Far Away
by Sapphire Phantom
Summary: When one of Tony's exes is transferred to D.C, the two are at each other's throats right off the bat. However, how long will that last when her son is kidnapped to settle an old debt and secrets are revealed?
1. Old Friend or Not

**A/N: I don't own Navy: NCIS, blah blah blah.**

Jessica Lennox was frantically running around her new home in Washington D.C, looking all around for her car keys. She tried to ignore her son, Sam, yelling to her about losing his Nintendo DS, but was failing miserably. Her two dogs Eva and Butch barking didn't help, either. She finally found her keys buried under a stack of papers having to do with her job transfer, then got ready to run out the door. She paused, then cursed herself when she realized that she nearly forgot one of her most important tools of her new job. Her USP .45. She grabbed the holster it was in and quickly got in on. "Sam, let's go!" she called, opening the front door. She pointed at Eva and Butch. "Stay!" she ordered, then watched as Sam ran out the door. "I promise it won't be this crazy later, sweetie," she told the four-year-old.

"Okay, Mommy," Sam nodded, climbing into the back of her Ford Focus.

Jessica made sure he was buckled in before heading down the driveway and down the street, constantly checking the car's clock, hoping she would make it to her brother's, then to the NCIS building in time for her first day there. A couple of minutes later, she pulled up to the front of her brother, Trent's house.

Trent practically swung the door open when she got there. "Where have you been?! Gibbs just may have a fit!". Trent had been working at the building as one of Gibbs' trainees, but he had been injured in the field. Since he and Jessica were both CSIs. He chose her to be his temporary replacement, and hoped that if she was good enough, both of them could work as trainees.

"I know, Tren. Just take him, I only have ten minutes!" Jessica replied.

"Sure," he bent down and picked up the little boy when he came his way. "Hey buddy, I got that new football game you liked. Wanna go play it?"

"Yeah!" Sam nodded.

Trent smiled. "Go right in," he put him down and the boy ran inside.

Jessica sighed. "Thank y-"

"Thank me later, go now!" Trent ordered. "And make sure you don't leave the back of your head open when you're around him!"

Jessica paused, wondering what that was supposed to mean, then nodded and turned, running back to her car. She knew he just wanted to help her and was being forceful to help. She hopped back in the car and drove off. She arrived at the NCIS building and ran into the building, getting to her new floor about a minute late. She made her way into the main room and looked around for someone to ask where she and to go from there. She spotted a goth-looking young woman and was slightly afraid to ask, then swallowed her fear and walked over to the woman confidently. "Uh, excuse me?"

The girl looked at her and smiled. "Hi. What's up?"

Jessica also smiled, relieved that the woman's looks betrayed her so-far nice attitude. "I was wondering if you could point me in the direction of where I could find Jethro Gibbs? I'm here subbing in for my brother-" she blinked when the girl squealed. "Uh…?" she was taken even more by surprise when the woman hugged her.

The woman finally pulled away. "Sorry, I'm just excited. You must be Jessica,"

"Yeah, I am," Jessica nodded.

"I'm Abby, I work with you. You're brother's awesome, so I can imagine you can't be that bad, either," she nodded.

Jessica went back to smiling. "Thanks, I think…" she looked back up at Abby. "And I'm sorry, but I'm already late as it is, I guess if we work together, I'll be getting to know you soon. About Mr. Gibbs-"

"Hey, Abbs, is this our new recruit?!" someone called from behind them.

Jessica turned and frowned instantly, just as who had called did the same. "YOU?!" they screamed at each other. Both of them drew their weapons and pointed them at each other.

Abby yelped and jumped back, then seeing that no shooting was going on, she decided to speak up. "… I take you've met Tony before?"

Tony scowled, not moving his finger from the trigger on his gun. "What the Hell is SHE doing here?!" he yelled at Jessica.

"Got transferred here. What's HE doing here?!" Jessica also didn't move.

"I work here. How's about you?"

"New recruit for Jethro Gibbs," Jessica replied.

"You've gotta be kidding…" Tony muttered.

"She kids you not,"

Both of them turned, seeing Gibbs coming down the staircase.

"Boss," Tony greeted, still not putting his gun down.

Gibbs nodded, then turned his attention to Jessica. "You _are_ Ms. Lennox, right?"

Jessica nodded.

"Right. Tony, Ms. Lennox, weapons down,"

The two obeyed.

Jessica put her hands behind her back. "Forgive me, it just turns out that Mr. DiNozzo and I… have crossed paths before,"

"No one would ever think so," Gibbs replied with a slight smirk. He reached the floor. "Knowing Tony, he probably deserves being held at gunpoint,"

Tony's jaw dropped briefly, then he crossed his arms and huffed, looking away.

Gibbs outstretched his hand to Jessica. "If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm Jethro Gibbs, your new boss,"

Jessica shook his hand. "Hi,"

Gibbs let his hand drop. "How's Trent?"

"He's better. His leg is healing up,"

"Wait… how do you know Trent?" Tony demanded.

"He's my twin brother," Jessica replied, looking at Tony over Gibbs' shoulder. "If you knew I was comin', wouldn't you have thought that? Not to mention known it was me coming at all?"

"Both Jessica and Lennox are common names. It was an easy mistake. I thought it was you once, but then decided it wasn't," Tony replied.

"Sorry to disappoint," Jessica replied.

"You're not forgiven," Tony shot back.

Jessica glared at him.

Gibbs put his hands out. "Okay, however you two know each other, I don't wanna know, but we're NCIS here, you have to get over it or you're gonna screw us all over, got it?"

"Yes sir," Both Tony and Jessica muttered.

"Good. Ms. Lennox, what model is your gun?"

"USP .45, and please, call me by my first name, or Jess or Jessie,"

Gibbs nodded. "I'll keep that in mind. You can call me by my last name. I'm sure you can call me by my first name, but I'd prefer it if I got to know you better first, and most of your new team calls me Gibbs anyway," Gibbs replied. " As for your gun, feel free to use your model unless you want to switch,"

"I'll stay with it, thanks," Jessica shook her head.

Gibbs nodded again. "Abby, show her around and introduce her to some people, will you?"

"Sure," Abby started to walk passed the men to get to another hallway. Jessica made sure that her shoulder hit Tony's hard as she walked passed him, following Abby.

Tony grunted and watched her, then turned to Gibbs, who was staring at him. "What is it NOW?!"

Gibbs whacked him upside the head and walked away. "That was for her," he called over his shoulder.

Tony watched him leave. "I'm in Hell. Washington D.C is now the fifth ring of Hell!" he walked away to find something to busy himself with.

--

"McGee!" Abby called in a sing-song voice as she reached one of the labs.

Tim turned around. "Hey, Abby… and friend,"

Abby smiled. "This is Trent's sister!"

"Oh, hi. Nice to meet you," Tim offered his hand. "I'm Tim, or McGee, whatever you prefer,"

"Jessica," Jessica introduced herself, shaking his hand.

Tim smiled. "So, you ready to start here?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," Jessica replied.

Tim nodded. "I hope you enjoy your time here,"

"I'll try," Jessica shrugged.

Tim didn't seem to let the comment register. He turned back to his work. "Ill see you two around,"

"Bye!" Abby waved, then grabbed Jessica's hand again, dragging her out the door. A couple of minutes later they arrived at the morgue. "Ducky! Ducky!" Abby called. She looked at Jessica. "Our M.E," she explained. "I'm sure he's around here somewhere,"

"…Ducky?" Jessica asked slowly.

Donald popped up from behind a table, startling both women. "Terribly sorry," he quickly apologized, then studied Jessica. "Ah, you must be Ms. Lennox. News travels fast here. As for Ducky, it's an unfortunate nickname. It's really Donald Mallard,"

Jessica smiled. "Pleasure to meet you, and you were right. I'm Jessica Lennox,"

Donald bowed his head. "Pleasure's all mine, my dear. Your brother speaks very highly of you,"

"Good to know," Jessica replied.

Abby smiled again. "Well, places to go, people to introduce. Bye!" she grabbed Jessica's hand and left the room with her in tow yet again, going in search of Ziva.

When they passed the main lobby again, Tony was glaring at them and Tim was just watching them, amused as Abby talked to her a mile a minute, talking about herself then asking Jessica about herself.

"She seems nice, and has a great smile," Tim offered.

Tony scowled. "Yeah. That's how she reels you in, Probie, then BAM! Shot through the heart!"

Tim blinked, then turned to face the other man. "What did you DO to her?"

Tony looked back at him. "Me?! Why is it always _me_ that does something wrong?!"

Gibbs, who had been cutting through the lobby, stopped dead in his tracks and turned to the men.

Feeling the all-too-familiar stare burning into the back of their skulls, the men turned. Tony saw that the emotionless stare was directed right at him. "WHAT?!"

Gibbs kept staring briefly, then walked away. Something told him that the connection between Tony and Jessica, whatever it was, was going to make the day a very long one.

----

The next morning:

Jessica had found that Ziva was scarier to meet than Abby seemed at first. She just had an air of intimidation to her. Jessica was never one to give in to intimidation, but with Ziva, she actually had trouble keeping it that way. Timing was a bit better the second day. Jessica had managed to get ready for work and get Sam ready to go to Trent's in record time, and got Sam to Trent's home with plenty of time to spare. She managed to walk in the door of the NCIS building with ten minutes before her shift started. She got inside, then spotted the elevator, then headed for it. She saw the doors were closing. "Hey! Hold the doors!" she called, speeding up a bit. She frowned, seeing them close fully. "… It's Tony, isn't it?" she muttered to herself and went to turn towards the stairs, but heard a ding a few feet away, indicating the elevator doors had opened.

Gibbs poked his head out. "Sorry," he waved, then looked around before continuing. "Reflexes aren't what they used to be," he muttered, then jerked his head, indicating for her to get inside. "Come on,"

Jessica smiled and got into the elevator. "Thanks,"

They rode the elevator in silence for a small while until Gibbs spoke up. "So why _did_you and DiNozzo pull guns on each other?"

"Long story," Jessica replied with a blush, not bringing herself to look at him.

"Ah. You dated, didn't you?" Gibbs asked.

"Is it that obvious?" Jessica asked, biting her lip while smiling.

Gibbs smirked and was silent for a little while longer, then whacked her upside the head.

Jessica let out a yelp. "Ow! What the Hell was that?!" she demanded, glaring at him.

Gibbs shrugged. "That's a sign of affection here. Welcome to the team,"

"…Thanks?" Jessica rubbed her head.

Gibbs nodded. "…So, were you the heartbreaker, or was he?"

"A bit of both, actually," Jessica replied, still rubbing her head.

"How's that?" Gibbs asked.

"I don't go down without a fight," Jessica replied.

Gibbs nodded, then reached over and hit the close door button on the elevator just as it reached their floor and held it down.

Jessica blinked. "…Uh…?". His antics were getting more and more odd by the moment.

"I just need a moment to… give you a request," he replied.

"…Okay?" Jessica shrugged.

"Don't try to kill DiNozzo," he told her, then cut her off when she opened her mouth to reply. "… Unless I'm around to watch," he smiled.

Jessica smiled as well. "I'll keep that in mind,"

Gibbs nodded. "Oh, and Ms. Lennox,"

"Jessica," Jessica corrected.

"Jessica… this conversation NEVER happened," Gibbs replied. He released the close door button and his smile faded, replaced by a frown as the door opened. "After you," he motioned.

Jessica pressed her lips together and went outside with him at her heels. _Yep. Trent was right._ She thought to herself. _Spot on with the head thing, and even more correct about the fact that it's gonna take a while getting used to this place. _


	2. Family Ties

**A/N: I don't own NCIS, blah blah blah, what you don't recognize is mine. Cheers for the reviews, and hope you enjoy this chapter.**

"So… the head whacking thing really is a sign of affection?" Jessica asked Abby a few minutes later after she had reached the lab.

Abby smiled and nodded. "Uh huh. I get a kiss on the cheek, though. Things even out," she replied. "…So what's with you and Tony?"

Jessica opened her mouth, then closed it, seeing a stuffed hippo a few feet away. "What's with the hippo?"

Abby took Bert off the shelf and hugged it, making sure she didn't trigger the farting noise. "I'll tell you, but I asked first. Why did you two draw guns on each other?"

"It's complicated," Jessica muttered, shoving her hands in her pockets.

Abby smirked and threw herself back into the swivel chair behind her, holding Bert closer. "How complicated?"

Jessica sighed. She knew she wasn't getting anywhere. "We dated a while back,"

"Ah," Abby nodded. "You really don't strike me as the person who would date him, though,"

"I was thirty and really young at heart. He was hot and funny. Do I really need to continue?" Jessica asked.

Abby grinned. "Yeah, we all know that. He has a nice butt, too. What's the real reason?"

Jessica laughed at both the second part of the statement and Abby's eagerness to see what went on. "That's the truth, I swear! We knew each other for a while, then he asked me out. Again, he was hot, and I was with my friends. They would have _never_ forgiven me if I didn't,"

Abby laughed. "I wouldn't have, either. So what happened to 'young at heart'? No offense, but it seems like you're really mature with acting so professional… except for that whole thing with pointing a gun at Tony,"

"Yeah, Jessica. What happened to your human side?"

Jessica closed her eyes, hearing Tony. She turned around and glared at him, not giving up her ground when he advanced on her. "I grew up, Tony. You didn't. I grew up enough for the both of us," she smirked and crossed her arms, even if Tony had made it so there was under a foot of space between them. "Now kindly, back off,"

Tony laughed. "I forgot how fun it was to annoy you," he told her without moving.

"Hm," Jessica raised her eyebrows, then brought her knee up hard between his legs.

Tony's smirk suddenly faded and he bit his lip. His eyes teared up as he crossed his legs. "Abs… case," he choked out, putting a file on the table before turning to the door and walking out of the lab very slowly.

Now Abby burst out laughing. "You know, I would've felt bad for him, but he's used to that by now,"

"Why am I not surprised?" Jessica replied.

Abby nodded, then took the file Tony had dropped on the table. "Ah! Fingerprints from our possible suspect. Gimme a minute, will ya?"

Jessica waved her hand. "Take your time," she watched Abby go over to one of the machines in the room, then jumped slightly when her phone started ringing. She silently apologized to Abby, then trotted out the door and picked up. "Hello?"

"Hi Mommy,"

"Sam! Hi, baby. I'm happy that you called, but I can't really talk right now. Is Uncle Trent okay?"

"Yeah. He just wants 'ta know what movie he should get for me from the library,"

Jessica laughed. "I don't know. Do you want "Cars"?"

Sam gasped on the other end. "Yeah!"

Jessica laughed. "Then go tell your uncle,"

" 'Kay. I love you, Mommy,"

"Love you too. Bye," Jessica hung up and went back in the lab. "Sorry. My son," she explained to Abby.

Abby squealed. "Awwww! You have a son?"

"Yeah. His name's Sam," Jessica replied. "I guess I should've told Tony I also had to grow up after having him,"

Abby grinned. "Forget Tony, Daddy must be a good looking guy, huh?"

Jessica sighed. "Yeah, he was. Sam's father and I broke up a while after Sam was born… I raised him on my own, really. How modern of me,"

Abby's hands flew to her mouth. "Oh! I'm so sorry! If I knew, I wouldn't have said that-"

"I trust that. It's fine, really," Jessica waved the statement off. "We're fine on our own, and he hasn't asked about 'Daddy' yet, so we're good,"

Abby smiled. "I guess so,"

Jessica nodded, hating the small awkward silence that followed. "So, Trent wasn't any help. Tell me about the case you're working on if I'm gonna start on it,"

Abby pointed at her. "You got it," she motioned for Jessica to follow her as she went over to one of the computers. She pointed at a picture of a young man around his thirties with red hair and green eyes. "That's our vic, Petty Officer Matt Wright. Died from several stab wounds to the chest, back and shoulders. Looks like he went through Hell and back before he really died. Kinda Julius Caesar, ya know, Jess? Can I call you Jess?"

"Sure," Jessica nodded. "What do we know about Wright other than cause of death,"

The door to the lab swung open. "Not much. That's where you, McGee, DiNozzo and Ziva come in,"

The women turned, seeing Gibbs come into the room, coffee in one hand, Caf-Pow in the other.

"Oh?" Jessica asked.

"You're gonna be working with McGee today, splitting his desk. I figured he's the only one who wouldn't kill you over space,"

"Er… great?" Jessica blinked.

Gibbs smirked and nodded. "Abs, anything new?"

"Nope, not yet," Abby shook her head, taking the Caf-Pow. "I'll let you know,"

Gibbs nodded, then turned, but not before noticing that Jessica was still standing with them. "What're you still doing here?"

Jessica snapped to attention. "Oh, right. I'll just be off, then," she replied, evidence of a British accent in the phrase as she headed out the door and turned left, blushing and turning on her heel when she heard "Wrong way!" come from the lab. She got her bearings right and returned to the main room and walked over to Tim's desk. "Hi. Gibbs told me you and I are sharing a desk today, so, uh… you have an open chair that I can use, please?"

"Yeah, sure," Tim nodded, taking a chair that was in the corner and rolling it towards the second computer at the other side of the desk.

"Thanks. So what're we running?" Jessica asked.

"Cell phone records for our vic. Did Abby tell you our vic's name?"

"Matt Wright," Jessica nodded. "Tell me where to start,"

Tim brought up a list on her screen, then pointed about halfway down. "See if anything repeats. I take the top half, you take the bottom?"

"Sounds like a plan," Jessica agreed.

"You dirty, dirty people,"

Jessica rolled her eyes, seeing Tony enter the area. The comment had come from him. "Hey Tony, feeling better?"

"Yes, much better, Jessie," Tony replied, using the same tone she did.

"Hm," they both tilted their heads and smirked at each other.

Tim blinked. "O…kay, that was creepy,"

"Deal with it, Probie. Tell us what we need to know," Tony snapped, then looked at Jessica. "Or what I need to know, being that somebody's on desk duty all day,"

Jessica laughed. "Right, tell him, Tim, because clearly his head is so far up his ass that he couldn't hear that we were working on it,"

Tony mirrored her action yet again with the same bitter laugh. "Oh yeah? Well-" the familiar hit to the back of his head and the sudden jerk of Jessica's notified him that Gibbs was behind him, and he had just whacked the back of both of their heads. "Just getting what I needed to know, Boss,"

"Really? Because it just looked like you and Jess were in the middle of a lover's spat," Gibbs replied.

Jessica and Tony growled a bit.

Gibbs smirked, then picked up the phone beside him when it started ringing. "Special Agent Gibbs," he remained silent with a neutral expression for a while, then nodded. "I'll be right there," he looked at Tony. "DiNozzo. Find Ziva. New case,"

"On it, boss," Tony hurried off and came back with her a couple of minutes later.

Gibbs nodded. "McGee, turn on the news. See what the media's picked up from it. Apparently the local news is already reporting," he looked back at Tony and Ziva. "You two, with me, Jessica, your choice. Come or stay this time, because it's big," Gibbs told her as he started walking towards the door.

Tim looked up at her. "You going?"

"Don't know yet. Let's see," Jessica nodded towards the large screen behind them, turning on the news. Sure enough, a picture of an area surrounded by crime scene tape was onscreen with the Subtitle "Marine Found Dead". However, it wasn't what Jessica's main focus was after a while. It was the guy that was rubbing his neck, sitting in the back of the ambulance a few feet away, being spoken to by police and EMTs.

Tim raised an eyebrow when she got her coat. "What…?"

"I have three brothers, Tim," she pointed at the man in the ambulance. "You know one, and that's another," he replied before running out of the room in the same direction the others had moments before.

---

When they got to the scene, Jessica didn't bother getting orders from Gibbs. She went right to the ambulance, where she still found her little brother, so naturally, she was worried. "Blake!" she pushed passed one of the cops and hugged him.

"Jess!" Her brother, Blake, gladly accepted the hug, putting his arms around her waist and head on her shoulder.

"Miss-" the cop began.

"She's his sister!" Gibbs called, looking over at them. Jessica had explained the whole thing on the way.

"Sorry," the cop mumbled.

"It's fine," Jessica told him, then looked back at Blake. "What happened?!"

Blake shook his head. "I honestly barely remember… I was over at Rex's place for a beer or two, next thing I know I hear some crashing in the kitchen, and Rex was in there so I ran in, next thing I see, Rex is on the ground, blood was everywhere, glass was shattered… then outta nowhere, some guy comes up behind me, covers my mouth with some cloth, then everything's black…"

"Chloroform?"

The question had come from Gibbs, who was now standing beside Jessica since Ducky was now examining the body. Palmer had actually made it to a scene on time.

"I guess… probably. You are?" Blake asked.

"Special Agent Gibbs, NCIS. Your sister's temporary boss 'til your brother heals up,"

"Oh," Blake nodded, shaking his hand. "… Rex didn't make it, did 'e?"

Gibbs shook his head. "No. I'm sorry,"

Blake sighed. "Thanks. I hate to say it, but I should've figured with the amount of blood around Rex,"

"Rex?" Gibbs asked.

Blake pointed over at where Ducky was. "Him. Your victim. Name's Rex Paulson,"

Gibbs looked back at the victim. "Well, at least we have an I.D," he looked back at Blake. "Did you get a look at your attacker?"

Blake shook his head. "Like I told Jess here, I wasn't facing him. Arm came around my neck from behind and… that's it,"

Gibbs scribbled something down on a pad. "Thanks for the help. You seem to be okay, but the EMTs may want to hold you overnight or a bit longer to make sure whatever you were drugged with is out of your system,"

Blake chuckled and shrugged. "Fine by me,"

Gibbs smiled weakly. "Alright. If you don't mind, I gotta have your sister back for a bit,"

"Go right ahead," Blake patted Jessica's back.

Jessica smiled at him. "Alright, hang in there, and have the doctors call Trent or me to give us where you're staying, okay?"

"Got it," Blake nodded.

Jessica kissed his cheek, then walked back towards Ziva and Tony.

"Who's that, Jess? An old boyfriend of yours?" Tony smirked.

"My brother, actually, Tony, and if you have any comments involving incest, I'll rip your spleen out through your throat," Jessica replied, waiting for Gibbs to give further instructions.

Ziva raised her eyebrows. "I may grow to like you, Miss. Lennox,"

Jessica grinned. "Please, call me Jessica or Jess, and I'm sure we will," she looked at Tony. "This one, I'm not so sure about," she started walking towards Gibbs when he motioned for them to come over, leaving Tony to stare at her briefly before making a face and joining the girls.


	3. War

**A/N: Sorry for the big wait and thanks for all the reviews. I don't own NCIS, blah blah. I own what you don't recognize. No profit's being made. The chap's mostly Tony-centric. Enjoy and review!!!**

Tony wasn't a happy camper when his phone rang at 5:00 in the morning. Groaning, he flipped over and picked it up. "If this is a solicitor know that I have connections who can hunt you down and kill you."

"Tony…?"

Tony squinted as if the action would help him recognize the voice. "Who the Hell is this?"

"Tone, it's Jess."

"Bye!" Tony went to hang up.

"No, Tony, wait!" she continued.

Tony sighed. "What do you want?"

"A favor. I swear this is the only time I'll ask you for something. You're my last resort right now."

He rolled his eyes. "What is it?"

"I need you to look after Sam for a couple of days when I go to New York."

"Why?"

"Because my sister just called me and told me she was diagnosed with cancer, Tony, that's why!"

Tony honestly did feel bad, but his jokester side kicked in before the guilt. "You have a lot of siblings. Which sister got the news? The one who chased me around with a 2x4 after we broke up or the one who _made me pie_?" he dragged out the last three words.

"Tony, come on!"

"Which. One?"

"Pie. Please, Tony? You're the only option I have. His father's already at work, I don't have McGee's number, I'd be afraid of how Sam would come back to me if I left him with Gibbs or Abby, Trent's flying out with me in three hours, and when Blake gets out of the hospital, he's on the next plane out, too. I'll never ask another favor of you. Just do this one thing for me, please?"

"…Alright. Should I expect him here or do you want me to come over there?"

"Oh God, thank you, Tony. Thank you so much. Would you mind coming here? I'd bring him, but I still have to get things together…"

"It's fine. I'll be right over. I'm uh… sorry about your sister."

"Thanks for both things. I'll see you soon."

"Right." Tony hung up. "Shoulda seen this coming, DiNozzo…" he mumbled to himself before dragging himself out of bed and going over to his closet to see what he could throw on.

--

A few minutes later, he was at her door. He knocked and she opened it a few seconds later.

"Hey," she smiled weakly. "Come in,"

Tony stepped in and observed the living room. There were still a bunch of boxes unpacked, but it seemed like there were more than a person staying for a few months would have. "… Change of heart about living here for a little while?"

"Yeah, actually. The place is nice enough, schools seem better…" she brushed past him to put one bag down by the door. "Sam! Uncle Tony's here!"

" 'Uncle Tony'?" Tony raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, he's better with uncles instead of just friends. Figured get you off to a good start." She replied.

Tony nodded. "Right, so where's Little Annoying One the Third?" he asked.

" 'The Third'?" she raised an eyebrow just as he did moments before.

Tony grinned as Eva and Butch came charging into the room. "Ah, here's Little Annoying One the First and Second!" he braced himself when Butch, the German Shepherd jumped on him. "Whoa, you're not quite little anymore though, are you?"

Sam came down the stairs. "Is this him?" he looked at his mother.

Jessica nodded. "Yeah, this is your Uncle Tony, sweetheart."

Tony exaggerated a smile. "Hi, buddy!"

Sam just blinked, then waved weakly.

Tony's smile faded. "Little brat." He mumbled, getting an elbow to the stomach from Jessica in response. He grunted, then straightened out.

Jessica glared at him, then turned, hearing a car horn beep outside. "That must be Trent…" she bent down to Sam and put her hand on his head. "Listen, baby. I'm sorry Mommy has to go so quick, but your Aunt Hannah's really sick. Uncle Tony's gonna take good care of you, okay? You behave."

"I will." Sam nodded.

"Good boy. I love you." Jessica gave him a kiss on the forehead. She straightened up, then looked at Tony. "I really do appreciate it."

"Whatever. You just go take care of your sister." Tony nodded.

"Thanks." Jessica smiled, then went to go kiss his cheek, but she second guessed it, both at her own thoughts as well as the way he tensed up, then went to hug him, but also second guessed that. What came of it was a very awkward hug, with her hands on his shoulders and elbows resting on his chest, with her body about eight inches from his. Even he was caught a bit clueless, his hands just hovering by her waist.

"Heh…" Jessica blinked, then patted his shoulders. "Bye,"

His hands dropped. "Yeah. Bye." He watched her get out of the house, then into Trent's car. He waited for them to drive off before looking at Sam. "Alright, kiddo. Your mom leave anything that'd help me out?"

Sam shrugged.

Tony sighed. "Great. This is gonna be fun." He looked around, then went down the hallway in search of her kitchen. He remembered she had always put every kind of list under the sun in her kitchen when they had dated. When he found it, sure enough, there was a note to him on the fridge.

_Tony-_

_This is about all I can do on short notice. There's plenty of food in the fridge for you two. Sam likes pretty much anything. His favorites are macaroni any way and pretty much all vegetables. Broccoli, mostly._

Tony twitched and looked up, disgusted. "_Broccoli?_ What kid likes _broccoli _at his age?" he mumbled to himself, but kept reading.

_Obviously, nothing has changed, so his toys are in the usual places, so are his DVDs. He just needs your help to get them to play. He's a good kid. He won't be too much trouble for you. I think this is you that just pulled up out front, so I better stop. I can't thank you enough for this.  
__-Jess.  
__P.S: My Magnum P.I season DVDs are on the right side of the entertainment unit in the living room. Just pull out the shelf and you're squared away. I know you'll want to watch them at some point. _

"You know me too well, Jess." Tony pushed off the fridge and returned to the living room. He saw that Sam wasn't around, then heard tiny creaks on the stairs, indicating the boy was going back up. Another odd thing. Tony shrugged. More time to himself. He went to the right side of the entertainment unit, pulled out the shelf, and sure enough, there were Magnum P.I seasons 1-7. His salvation. He turned on the T.V, then put in one of the . He was soon happily humming the theme song and getting into the episode, and before he knew it, he had dozed off.

---

The next morning, Tony was just starting to wake up when he found a set of blue eyes right in front of his own. "AHHHHH!" He literally fell off the couch, then looked to see who had been staring at him. He only relaxed slightly when he saw it was Sam. "What's the matter with you?!"

Sam looked guilty for a moment, then pointed at the phone. "A man called. He wants to know where Mommy is."

Tony blinked. "Did he say his name?" he half asked, half groaned.

"…Gibbs?" Sam said after another moment.

Tony paled, then looked at the clock on the DVD player. It read 10:30. An hour later than when both he and Jess should've been at work. "Great!" he launched himself off of the couch. Not having much choice, he looked at Sam. "Wanna see where Mommy and a couple of your aunts and uncles work?"

Sam shrugged. "Yeah!"

"Good. Come on." Tony led him out towards the garage, then opened it. He frowned, seeing the silver 2007 Mercury Sable. He had actually been counting on having the Ferrari. Yes, she owned a Ferrari 308 GTS, Magnum's Ferrari. Well, _they_ did, being that he and her parents had chipped in. They had both made arguments about who would get it after the breakup, but somehow, Tony lost and she got it. He laughed to himself. He should've known she wouldn't have taken the Ferrari with her to D.C. It was probably in the safe care of her parents. They were the only two people other than himself and Jessica that he would've trusted with it. "Alright, kid. Get in. We gotta go, fast."

Sam nodded and hopped in the backseat.

After a while of pushing random buttons on the remote, Tony finally found the one that opened the garage door. They drove off, and he was so annoyed he nearly forgot to close the door, but he didn't. A few minutes later, they had reached NCIS, and Tony practically dragged Sam out of the car and into the building. He had to laugh when they were in the elevator and Sam seemed mesmerized by it. "Like it? No boring music. Apparently Gibbs took a knife to the speakers during his second year here."

Sam looked up at him, stunned at the word 'knife'.

Tony blinked. "You know, like that thing the red ranger always uses?" he suggested, then put his arms in a "V" position and swung. "You know, h-wa!"

Sam just stared again.

Tony stared right back. "What is your mother depriving you of, kid?!" he demanded as the elevator doors opened.

Tim jumped up from his spot. "Tony! There you are! Where have you been?!" he spotted Sam. "Uhhh…"

Tony nudged Sam forward. "Probie, meet Sam. Jess' son."

Sam smiled and waved.

Tim returned the smile, but it was tight-lipped and uneasy. "Hi!"

Tony clenched his jaw. "Oh, he gives you the nice greeting!" he growled. He pointed to his desk. "Go sit there. I have work to do."

Sam did as he was told.

Tim got up and went over to Tony. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

"Are you gonna give me a choice?" Tony smirked.

Tim rolled his eyes, then dragged him away a couple of feet. "You brought a kid to NCIS?"

Tony shrugged. "I didn't have much choice. Jess had to leave quickly for a little bit last night, called me, I had to take him, and I overslept so I had to bring him."

"Gibbs is gonna kill you, you know that, right?" Tim raised an eyebrow.

"No! Gibbs loves kids! He won't care." Tony shrugged.

Tim shrugged. "O-kaay, but don't tell me I didn't warn you."

This time, Tony did literally growl at him, then spotted Gibbs coming out of the elevator.

Gibbs, who was looking down at some papers, didn't see Sam at first. He got out and started weaving through the desks without looking up. He passed Sam. "DiNozzo, where have you been?! Where's Lennox, too? Why're you late?" he started the list. It wasn't until he had passed the desk when he stopped in his tracks and looked up. His eyes narrowed and he turned around slowly to look at Sam. He looked back towards Tim, finally seeing Tony next to him. He glared at the younger man and pointed to Sam. "Explaination!"

Tony laughed. "Well, you uh, see, Boss, heh, I uh…"

"Now!" Gibbs barked.

"Jess-had to leave for a couple of days or more and I was her only option to leave with her kid and I overslept so I had to run out the door to get here and I took him with me." Tony blurted out in one breath.

Gibbs looked him up and down. "That would explain the jeans and T-Shirt."

Tony looked down. "Yeah, I didn't think of getting a suit, boss. I had to get something and run."

"Yeah, I figured." Gibbs growled, then passed over one of the papers he had to McGee. "Run this guy's name for an address, will you, McGee?"

"Sure, boss," Tim took it, then ran the name and read out the address.

Gibbs nodded. "Ziva's with Abby right now. Get her and we'll be on our way."

Tim nodded and headed for Abby's lab.

Gibbs watched him, then looked at Sam and walked over to him. "Hey. Sam, right?"

"Uh huh," Sam nodded, straightening up.

Gibbs studied him. "I'm Mr. Gibbs. Did you hear the message I left?"

"you wanted to know where my mommy was!" Sam replied.

Gibbs smiled. "Yeah. That's me. So you're Jessica's son, huh?"

Sam nodded.

"How old are you?" Gibbs asked.

"Four." Sam replied, starting to spin on the chair.

Gibbs pressed his lips together, then looked at Tony. "Four, huh?".

Tony knew the look was more of a 'You took a four-year-old to work?' look than anything. He smiled weakly yet again.

Gibbs looked back at Sam. "You just rest here. It gets pretty boring."

"Okay." Sam nodded, spinning again.

Gibbs smiled, then ruffled Sam's hair. He pushed odd of the desk, seeing Tim and Ziva coming towards them.

Ziva also did a double take on Sam, then looked at Tony. "Oh, you are here. I was wondering if somehow your appearance finally matched up to your personality."

Tony smirked. "Cute."

Gibbs nodded towards the elevator. "Let's go."

Tim, Ziva and Tony all headed towards the elevator.

Gibbs turned and pointed at Tony. "Not you."

Tony stopped, looking completely hurt. "Why not?!"

Gibbs stepped forward. "A, you came in late, B, someone has to watch him!" he pointed at Sam.

Tony raised his head. "Oh,"

"You're on desk duty today," Gibbs added, then joined the other two at the elevator.

Tony stared at it for a while, then turned to Sam. Not only had the boy earned Gibbs' affection in under a minute of knowing him, but now he stopped him from going out into the field. "This is war, kid. _War!"_


	4. Lists

Tony had a very small list of what he could never imagine himself doing. For the past couple of minutes, he realized he would have to add "Have a staring contest with a four-year-old" to that list. He and Sam had been doing just that for a small while. The sad thing was that Sam was winning, so Tony wasn't thrilled.

"Rematch! Best out of five!" he demanded.

"…Rematch?" Sam blinked.

"Do over." Tony growled.

"We did that a buncha times already!" Sam objected.

"So?"

Tim, who had returned a few minutes prior with the others, just closed his eyes, raised his eyebrows and shook his head.

Tony caught the action. "What else would you suggest, Probie! I don't know a thing about him!"

Tim opened his eyes just to roll them. "You get to know him, Tony."

Tony smirked. "Enlighten me, 'cause he's not talkin' much."

Tim scooted away from his desk to look over the boy, then smiled at the Transformers sneakers that Sam was wearing. "I take you like Transformers, huh?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah."

Tim laughed. "Who's your favorite Autobot or Decepticon?"

"Bumblebee!" Sam grinned.

Tim laughed. "Bumblebee, huh? I always liked Optimus Prime."

"I like him too." Sam nodded.

Tim grinned again, then looked at Tony. "See? It's not that hard."

Tony glared at him. "Whatever."

Tim tried not to laugh.

Tony growled, having enough. He glanced over when Gibbs came into the room.

Gibbs didn't pay any attention to him at all. "McGee, with me. Down to the lab. Now." He ordered.

"New lead, boss?" Tim asked.

"Yeah. Why aren't you movin' yet?" Gibbs demanded.

Tim immediately got up and followed Gibbs towards Abby's lab.

Tony grunted. He had enough with sitting around all day. He pointed at Sam. "Stay here." He ordered before running after them.

When all three of them got to the lab, Gibbs was too busy getting information about the latest evidence found in an officer's murder to notice that Tony was with them until about halfway through Abby's briefing. "…DiNozzo… why are you here?" he demanded.

Tony sighed. "Come _on_, boss. It's _boring_ just sitting around with the kid all day!"

"You brought him, here, DiNozzo. Jess put him in your care, so that's your job right now. Why. Are. You. Here?"

"I need something to do!" Tony replied.

Gibbs didn't seem happy at all. "…Who's watching Sam?"

Tony opened his mouth, then shut it.

Gibbs' frown deepened. "Don't you dare say 'nobody'."

Tony looked down. "…Nobody's watching him." he admitted, bracing himself for the slap to the back of the head or possibly worse.

Tim gulped, seeing the older man turn a dark shade of red. Even Abby seemed scared, being that she ducked behind him for cover.

Gibbs advanced on Tony. "You're telling me… you left… a four-year-old boy… who was put temporarily in your care… alone… in a building that's the size of three or more warehouses put together… and have him free reign to wander around… and GET HIMSELF LOST?!" he yelled the last bit.

Tony braced himself even more. "Yeah, boss?"

Gibbs advanced on him even more, then brought his finger up to Tony's chest.

Abby let out a little whimper and gripped the back of Tim's jacket. She didn't like the situation at all.

Gibbs stayed in that position for a few seconds, which seemed like hours for Tony, before he lowered his hand. "You and I are finding that kid, and for the record, Jess will find out, and I will tell her how you left him alone."

"Please don't." Tony laughed weakly.

Gibbs just glared at him before practically kicking open the door. He pointed outside and Tony knew better than to wait a moment. He was outside within a second. "Sa- Sammy?" his voice cracked, afraid at the fact that Gibbs was behind him, almost walking on his heels… rather, stomping on them. He reached the desks and looked under each of them. "Sam?" he called. Still no sign of the boy.

Gibbs checked the next few cubicles, then got back up and glared at Tony.

Tony gulped. "I'm sure he's around here, boss."

"He better be for your sake." Gibbs growled.

Tony nodded.

Gibbs took his cell phone out.

Tony went pale. "You're not calling her yet boss… are you?" he tried to smile innocently.

Gibbs smirked. "You fear her when she's angry. I'll have to keep that in mind." He looked for the 'Latest Contacts' option on his cell and found Jessica's number. "You have two minutes to try and get somewhere with finding him or I'm calling."

Tony ran off.

Gibbs watched him, crossing his arms and tapping his foot. He prayed that Sam hadn't made it outside.

Tony skidded to a halt outside the hallway with the elevators. "Okay, if I was a four-year-old with a mother who deprives me, where'd I hide?"

"A minute twenty!" came from a few feet away.

"Yeah, yeah!" Tony muttered, running up the stairs to the second floor. He went over to the railing and looked down, trying to get a bird's eye view to try and spot the boy. No luck. "Sammy?!" he looked around, then went into MTAC. "Sam!"

The few people working inside turned and stared at him.

He smiled, waved, then ducked out of the room. "Sam!" It was a hiss this time.

"Forty seconds!"

"UGH!" Tony ran back down the stairs, making a loop around the area.

"Twenty!"

For the first time in a while, Tony fought the urge to scream "Screw you" at his boss. "Come on, kid! Where are you?!" he went behind Tim's seat and lifted up the younger man's jacket and bag since they were bulked up in the corner.

"Ten…"

Tony cursed. "Not X-Men, DiNozzo!" he went over to Ziva's.

"Seven…"

Tony ran over to the elevator and hit the button that opened the doors. No luck.

"Three…" Gibbs got his cell phone out.

Tony ran back to his desk.

"One…" Gibbs hit talk, but right when he did, the screen on Tim's computer opened a window automatically, and Ducky showed up.

"Oh, Hello Timothy. Is Jethro there?"

"What's up, Duck?" Gibbs walked over, sending a glare in Tony's direction.

"Well, I don't quite know, but a little boy happened to wander in here a minute ago.

Tony launched himself over to the computer. "Sam?!"

Ducky nodded after a moment. "Yes, I believe that's his name."

"Oh thank God." Tony fell back in his chair, then noticed Gibbs was staring at him. "What? We found him, now! … Well, Ducky did."

"Yeah, now go get him!" Gibbs replied.

Tony headed for the elevator without another thought.

Gibbs watched him, then finally letting the fact that Sam was okay settle in, he snorted.

Even Ducky chuckled. "Ah, so he's Jessica's boy."

Gibbs nodded.

Ducky nodded. "Did you threaten to call Jessica if he didn't find it."

"Yup."

"He looked terrified. I honestly do wonder what caused them to behave they way they do around each other… even what their relationship was like before."

Gibbs nodded. "You and me both, Duck. Hell, I'll pay Jess to tell me."

Ducky chuckled. "Ah, here he his now. That's all."

The screen went black again.

---

Tony nearly fell over yet again when the elevator doors opened and he saw Sam talking to Ducky. "Sam!"

Sam looked over.

Tony ran over to him. "Sam! What the hell's wrong with you?! I told you to stay put!" He didn't realize the harshness of his words until the boy's bottom lip started quivering. "Oh no. No. No, no, no, no, no. I didn't mean it, buddy. I'm sorry. I was just scared. Don't cry. Don't cry. Please?" He winced when the boy whimpered and started doing what he had asked him not to. "Oooooh. Jess is gonna kill me!" he sulked.

"And she had every right to, Anthony! How can you do that! He's only a boy. He didn't know!" Ducky objected, putting his hands on Sam's shoulders, attempting

"I know, Ducky." Tony mumbled. He looked at Sam. "Hey, Buddy! Look at me! It's okay! It's not your fault. I didn't mean to yell or curse! See! I'm happy you're okay!" He made a wide smile.

Sam only calmed down slightly.

Tony offered his hand. "Come on. Let's get something to eat, okay?"

Sam took a deep breath, then nodded and took his hand.

Tony sighed in relief. "Good man!" he looked back at Ducky and smiled and nodded, though turned and headed for the elevator rather fast since the older man still looked disappointed in him.

When they got back to the main room, Gibbs, who was now back in the room with Tim and Ziva looked over and saw the remnants of tears on Sam's cheeks. "What'd you do to him?!"

"I… overreacted with him down there. It's okay now. I apologized." He gulped yet again when Gibbs looked pissed. "Sam, say it's okay between us. It is, right?" He looked at Gibbs when Sam nodded "yes". "See?"

Gibbs growled a bit. "Strike one, DiNozzo. If I see or hear two more things go wrong, I'm calling Jess. Got it?"

Tony nodded. "Crystal clear, boss."

Gibbs walked off.

Tony looked at the other two present. "You're gonna help me, right?"

The other two just glanced at him before walking away.

"…Fine!"

---

**2 hours later: **

Tony was sitting at his desk, watching as Sam played with the Optimus Prime toy that Tim had gone home and gotten when he was able to leave for a few minutes. He was secretly thinking of what could go wrong and thinking up various ways of avoiding it. However, each plan ended with Jessica coming back at the end of the day, and he knew that wasn't going to happen. "I can't do it, Probie."

Tim, who had also been watching Sam play, looked over. "Do what, Tony?"

Tony scooted over to him. "Hate the kid like I wanted to! He's just to… cute and innocent!"

Tim stared at him. "Do you have a fever? Did you hit your head?"

"I know. I'm not me right now." Tony put his head down, but it shot up in alarm when someone squealed, then there was a slam on his desk. "Who's dying?!" he groaned and put his head back down when he recognized the large black blur that passed him as Abby.

"AWWW! YOU'RE SAM!" the lab tech reached the now confused and scared boy and pulled him into a very tight hug. "Your mom's told me so much about you! You're even cuter in person!"

"Abby… … please don't choke him. I think just by running over to him and hugging him you already raised his risk of having a heart attack." Tony mumbled.

Abby released Sam, then grinned. "Hi! I'm Abby! I know I look scary, but I'm not. I'm really nice and I love kids." She turned to Tony. "Right, Tony?"

"Uh huh." He mumbled, putting his head back down.

Sam's look of fear slowly disappeared.

Abby grinned. "You and I are gonna be such good friends."

Tony groaned, imagining Sam with black hair and dressed in all black. "She's gonna kill me…" he repeated.

"No she won't." Abby replied. "Well, duty calls, gentleman! Back to the lab," she patted Sam's head, then went back to the lab.

Tony still refused to lift his head, then felt around for the cup of juice he had gotten Sam a few minutes before. He got it, then put it down. "Here, kiddo. Amuse yourself. I'm gonna come up with ways to kill myself before your mom does." He let his hand drop when he felt the boy take it.

There was a few seconds silence, then Tim disturbed Tony's thoughts. "Uh… Tony?"

"What, Probie?"

"… You're gonna have a problem."

"I already do, Probie." Tony replied.

"No, I mean, added to it."

"Why?" Tony lifted his head,, seeing the cup of juice was directly in front of him._ If that's there, then what's Sam drinking?_ His eyes bulged out of his head, remembering the crash before Abby had hugged Sam, which indicated that she had dumped her belongings on his desk, and hadn't taken them back. He closed his eyes. "McPrime, tell me I didn't give Sam Abby's Caf-Pow by accident."

"Uh…"

Tony squeaked, then looked over at Sam, and sure enough, there was Sam, holding the Caf-Pow. "NO! NOT GOOD!"


	5. Punched, Not Stirred

2 hours later:

Gibbs pushed open the door to the men's room, headed for the sink. Abby had just accidentally spilled some liquid on his jacket, and although she made a good argument, he didn't trust her "harmless" over his own. He had just started to wet a paper towel and dab at the spot when he spotted an all-to familiar head of brown hair sticking out from behind one of the half-walls. He leaned back, seeing the owner was literally curled up into a ball, rocking back and forth, mumbling "Daddy Day Care. What goes up, must come down," Repeatedly. "DiNozzo." It wasn't a question, it was an order to tell him what was going on.

"Sam. Caf-Pow. Not a good combination." Tony replied.

"I meant why are you in here on the floor?" Gibbs growled.

"Have you ever dealt with a four year old on a sugar high brought up on an energy drink that has so much crap in it that he shouldn't even have had it before he was thirteen?" Tony replied.

Gibbs stared. "You lost him again, didn't you?"

"I didn't lose him!" Tony snapped.

Gibbs raised an eyebrow, waiting for a Tony-eqsue reply, such as "I just can't find him". However, none came. A surprisingly logical answer came up.

"I just left him with the only guy who could make us all relax a bit too much… but he may escape and come back like any sane person would, thus why I'm here." Tony replied.

Gibbs sighed. "Ducky."

"Uh huh."

Gibbs rolled his eyes, realizing that Tony had already given up on the kid. Something told him he'd be babysitting that night, if her mother would allow. Then again, she did mention Sam's father. He headed out after dabbing at his jacket a couple of more times. He headed into the morgue, and sure enough, there was Ducky, talking to Sam, who was perched on one of the tables. He had calmed down, but was still visibly jittery from the side effects of the drink. Gibbs was relieved to find that the Englishman hadn't left any of the bodies out of the lockers that would scar the kid for life. They were all closed. He had to laugh, hearing what the conversation was. Ducky was in the middle of one of his famous stories, and unlike all of them, Sam looked absolutely interested. Gibbs wondered if Sam even understood half the things that Ducky was saying. "Hey, fellas."

"Ah, hello Jethro. Just getting to know our latest recruit." Ducky nodded.

"I see that." Gibbs went over to Sam's side and leaned on the table. "Did your mom leave your dad's phone number, Sam?"

"Mommy gave Uncle Tony a bunch'a numbers." Sam replied.

"Okay. You may have to stay with your dad for a while until your mom, leaves. Your Uncle Tony's not having a good day."

" 'Kay." Sam nodded.

Gibbs laughed, then nodded. "Alright Duck, back to story time." He offered Sam his hand, and his smile widened when Sam slapped five with him. "That a boy." He left and headed for Tony's desk. Once he got there, he started digging through Tony's bag's side pocket. He felt a slip of paper, then pulled it out and rolled his eyes, seeing it was some woman's name written with a phone number and hearts around it. "Typical, DiNozzo…" he tossed the number and kept digging around. After finding and throwing out three more women's names and numbers, he found another list, which seemed to fit more. When he saw Trent's number, he nodded, satisfied, then spotted what he was looking for:

_Sam's Dad- Jimmy Bond. Yes, that's his real name. Tony, I swear, If there's need to call him and there are any 007 jokes, I will find out and rip your spleen out through your throat._

He laughed. He couldn't remember where he had heard it from, but he knew it was a movie. He was happy to find at least one similarity between the two. He spotted Tim coming in. "McGee!" he flagged him down.

Tim walked over. "What's up, Boss?"

"I need you to run this number and get an address for me." Gibbs handed him the paper. "Bonds?"

"Bond?" Tim raised an eyebrow.

"Apparently, it's the guys real name. I know it seems fake. Run it anyway." He went into his own pocket and searched for Jessica's number. _Forget three strikes_. If it was that bad for Tony, he wasn't going to let any of them deal with it. He found Jessica's number on his own phone, then smirked, seeing Tony had come out of hiding just in time. He waited patiently, and judging by Tony's sudden look of horror, he knew who he was calling. "DiNozzo, do you want her to kill you because you lost the kid, or just get screamed at since there's a backup plan?"

"Oh, no, Boss. You don't get it. You see, she's one of six kids. Two other sisters, you heard about the nice one, but then there's the mean one, and then her brothers: Blake or whoever, then I didn't know Trent and her were related, but you haven't heard of Mal. He's the oldest of the bunch… the cop. Ya see, after we broke up, her mean sister chased me around with a 2x4, then Big Brother Mal chased me with a nine millimeter, then when I got away, he gave up only to come back and beat the crap outta me! You remember the time I came in with a black eye?"

Gibbs blinked. "…Which time?"

Tony clenched his jaw. "The one where I was limping, too."

"Oh, right." Gibbs nodded.

"Yeah. Mal did that to me. He's like, homicidal protective." Tony replied. "She'd sick him on me, then add to the beat down if she found out."

Gibbs smirked. "You shouldn't have lost the kid in the first place." He hit talk, and walked away, leaving Tony to gape at him. He waited until the phone was picked up. "Hi, Jess?" he suddenly grinned, hearing the reply on the other end. "Oh, hi, Mal."

Tony went pale, then made chopping motions at his neck. "No! No! No!"

Gibbs turned his attention back to the phone. "My name's Jethro Gibbs, Jessica's temporary boss over at NCIS… is she available? Oh, alright. Well, I might as well ask you; How's your sister?… That's good. It's great that she has all of you to support her… yes. Thanks. Sure, I'll wait." He looked at Tony yet again, enjoying the power he had over the man. He walked a few feet, and he could've sworn he heard a 'thud', which was probably Tony hitting the ground from passing out or something. He didn't bother to check. He waited to hear Jessica, then finally spoke up. "Hey, Jess? Would you mind if we left Sam with his dad 'til you get back? …No. He's fine… per se… No, not harmed… just… very, very hyper… well, there was a mix up with juice and Caf-Pow… Yes, Tony-"

Tony winced, hearing Jessica's scream to put him on the phone. He sent a pleading look in Gibbs' direction, but his boss just shrugged and tossed him the hone. "Uh…. Hey, Jess! How are ya? How's your sis- Aw, come on, it was an innocent, honest mistake… yes, that combo exists…well, I had a headache, and my head was down, and I went to give him the juice I gave 'em, then it turned out I gave him the wrong thing. I wouldn't give him Caf-Pow on purpose. How dumb do you think I am?" he paused. "Don't answer that…… I thought you'd never ask." Tony offered the phone back to Gibbs.

Gibbs took it. "Yeah, I'm here... You sure? I'll do that… …Oh, how long are you gonna be before you get back? Only a couple of days? Fine… no, don't worry. I'd think less of you if you didn't… bye." He shut the phone. "Let's go, DiNozzo."

"Where we goin' boss?"

"Get Sam. Road trip." Gibbs replied. "I'll drive."

"Trade jobs. You get Sam, I'll get the car."

"Deal." Gibbs headed back towards the morgue.

---

A couple of minutes later, Gibbs and Sam were getting into Tony's car.

Tony leaned back. "Alright, kiddo. You're obviously calm, so the sugar's mostly gone. You can have control over the radio, then. Just no Jonas Brothers, Hannah Montana, Selena Gomez or any other Disney-ified star. Got it?"

"Congrats, DiNozzo, you just eliminated every song that a four year old would listen to." Gibbs pointed out, then turned one of the dials, satisfied when some Taylor Swift song came on. Not his thing, but it probably would've worked. Not to mention Tony still looked like he was in pain when it went on for a few seconds, so it was worth it. "This work, Sam?"

"Uh huh." Sam nodded.

The rest of the ride passed in silence between the three of them, that was, until they reached Jimmy's house. Tony broke it by voicing his opinion of it when they pulled up. "Did McGoo get the right address? Was Jess kidding? It's a _dump_!"

The house really did seem out of place. It was clearly a fixer-upper in the middle of a few gorgeous homes.

Gibbs shrugged. "Only one way to find out." He turned around. "Come on, buddy. Let's see your dad."

Gibbs and Sam led the way out of the car, and Tony followed, his eyes darting around as if waiting for Mal to come out of nowhere and attack him. Paranoia, he concluded, was not fun. The oldest of the bunch rang the doorbell and shoved his hands in his pockets, waiting for the door to open. When it did, Gibbs studied the man who came to the door, and found he wasn't thrilled about what he saw. The man had jet-black hair in a buzz cut, was fairly muscular and stood at about 6'2". However, it wasn't his appearance that he didn't care for. Hell, if the man had been applying for a job as an NCIS agent, he probably would've taken one look at him and hired him. It was the fact that the man looked hung over. His eyelids were droopy and he was hunched over a bit, too much to have just woken up.

"Who're you?" the man asked.

"I'm Jethro Gibbs, and this is Tony DiNozzo. Are you Jimmy Bond… James, I take it?"

"Yeah, what's it to you?" James Bond asked.

Gibbs nodded and continued. "We're Jess' coworkers, and we came across a little problem since Jess is out of town seeing to her sister." Gibbs took Sam's shoulders. "Well, Jess is out of babysitters, so you being his father made us go right to you."

Jimmy looked down at Sam.

Gibbs had the sudden urge to yell at the man since he looked at Sam with so much disinterest it made his stomach turn. He hated situations like that, especially when the child involved was very young. He fought it, however. "Mind if we come in?"

"Whatever." Jimmy moved aside.

Gibbs sent him a tight-lipped smile and stepped inside.

Tony did one final look around before stepping inside. He followed Gibbs into the house and rolled his eyes. He could just tell Gibbs didn't like the man off the bat, and it looked like the older man was now looking for something that was lying around could possibly kill Sam. _Anything to get Sam away from him_. He mused. As he too got a better look, despite himself, he also joined the visual hunt.

"So you guys are C. , right?" Jimmy asked, joining them in the kitchen.

"Close. NCIS agents." Gibbs replied. "What do you do?"

"Handyman. Trying to find a new job." James replied.

"Oh, so you're not a secret agent?" Tony asked, only to get elbowed by Gibbs. The younger agent covered it with a cough.

James didn't seem too pleased. "No, sorry to disappoint you and hundreds of others." He turned away.

Tony nodded, then shrugged when Gibbs looked at him.

Gibbs rolled his eyes. "You mind if I have a look around?"

"Yeah, actually. I do." James replied.

Gibbs narrowed his eyes. "I just wanna make sure that Sam's going to be alright here."

"I'm his father. Of course he's gonna be fine."

"We'll see." Gibbs pushed past him.

James scowled and turned. "Did you not hear me?!"

Tony laughed once. "I wouldn't suggest challenging him."

"Screw you, pal." The man shot back, then followed Gibbs.

Tony growled, then followed him as well.

A few seconds later, Gibbs came out of what appeared to be the guest room. "That where Sam would stay?"

"And I repeat, what's it to you?" James demanded.

"Looking out for the kid's welfare." Gibbs snarled.

Tony shrunk back. It was one battle he didn't wanna get into. He saw Sam peeking out from behind his upper thigh and moved his hand so he pushed the boy back a bit to stop the boy from seeing what was going on, as well as keeping him out of the way in case it got ugly.

"Well, being that you have absolutely _no relation_ and you're only Jess' _boss_, I really don't give a good God damn what you think. The kid's never here, anyway."

"Should that matter? The kid still needs to be in a good environment."

"Whatever." James mumbled.

Gibbs glared at him, and Tony moved himself and Sam even further back.

"You like this with everyone who comes in peace?" Gibbs demanded.

"Yeah, pretty much, especially when they go against what I say _in my own house_." James replied.

"Good." Gibbs turned, as if to leave, only to turn right back in the blink of an eye, letting his fist connect with James' jaw, sending the younger man to the ground. "Talk to Jess about where your son's gonna be for the next two days, scumbag." He turned back around and did walk this time.

Tony launched himself at the wall to avoid the one-man stampede he knew was coming.

Gibbs looked at Sam and only calmed down slightly. "Come on." He picked Sam up and continued back out the door. "You're gonna stay with me 'til your mom gets back."

As they got out the door and into the front yard, Sam looked back at Tony.

As much as Tony didn't want to admit it, he really felt for Sam when the boy looked at him with an expression that clearly screamed that he didn't know whether or not to be scared or not. He shrugged and mouthed "I don't know." He then realized his normal pace was just about half of "Angry-Gibbs'" pace, as Abby had put it once, so he sped up, almost running to keep up. "Uh, boss?"

"What, DiNozzo?" Gibbs demanded, closing the backdoor of the car when Sam had quickly crawled in. He wasn't in the mood to hear "Easy on the car" or anything. However, he was surprised by the man yet again.

"Can't you see the kid's scared? Just… take it easy… it's over with Bond… with any luck he won't call the cops and he'll call Jess to complain about us. I don't wanna admit it, but I know Jess enough to know she'll back you up."

Gibbs clenched his jaw, leaning on the front, the nodded. "Thanks." He mumbled before getting in.

Tony blinked, not believing that he had heard what Gibbs had said, then wondered if he should've gotten in the car and wondered just who had taken over his boss' body when he saw that Gibbs had turned and apologized to Sam. Another silence passed until Gibbs asked Tony for Jess' address, and when he gave it to him, they went there, instructing Sam to bring Tony in to get a few of his things.

The two went inside. When they got there, Tony waited patiently for what was coming.

"Is he _always_ like that?"

And there it was. Tony shook his head. "No, Sam… well, sometimes to us grown-ups, but not kids... never to kids. He loves kids like you. He was just mad because your dad was very mean today. He thought he might've been mean to you, so he defended you like the Red Ranger defends their city." He was a bit relieved when Sam just blinked. "Your mom's not getting you into that stuff quite yet… uh… like Pikachu defends Ash." He raised his eyebrows, hoping that got a reaction, and as Sam nodded, he nodded as well, happy it did. "Let's go get some of your toys and stuff, huh?"

Sam nodded and led the way up the stairs. They reached his room, and Tony nearly fell over laughing, seeing Sam's bed was the Ferrari bed he had seen a while back. "Why am I not surprised?" he chuckled, lying down on it, ignoring the fact that his legs hung over the end. "I may never leave."

Sam scrunched up his face. "But we gotta. Mr. Gibbs said I'm gonna stay with him until Mommy gets me."

Tony laughed harder. "I know, buddy. It's just tempting… I'm sure your mom'll let'cha find out why in a few years."

Sam just stared at the man like he was insane before going to get his little backpack that was on a hook on the wall, then started putting various things into it.

"Where's your bathroom? I'm sure you're gonna need your toothbrush and stuff." He laughed when Sam made another disgusted face. "I know. I wasn't a big fan of it either when I was your age, but it'll help you get girls down the road." He could just imagine Jess keeling over and dying if she had been with him. He knew the last thing she would want was to have Tony talk to Sam about girls. "Alright, finish up so I can go get those things."

Sam nodded. "Done."

Tony smirked and led him back down the stairs, finding the bathroom and various toiletries. He shoved them into Sam's bag. "Onward to Gibbs!" he pointed at the door and led the way out, locking the door with the spare key Jess had left for him. They got back into the car, and Gibbs already seemed in a better mood than before.

"You set?" He asked.

"Uh huh." Sam replied.

"Alright, I just called your mom. We're dropping off Uncle Tony first, then going back to my place. That'll be fun, right?"

Sam nodded, though slower than before.

Gibbs pressed his lips into a thin line. He knew it was going to take a little while for Sam to not be scared of him again, but the process was already halfway done or more, so he knew there wasn't much trouble. "I hope you like boats."


	6. Thunder

**a/n: Sorry for the huge wait. Life happened. You know what I'm talking about. Enjoy and review. **

Gibbs grunted a bit as he was brought right out of a sound sleep by a rather loud boom. Remembering that Sam was a few feet away, he immediately snapped to attention. That was one of his specialties that Tony considered to be a curse. Being half asleep one second, then being able to make himself fully wake up in the next second. He swore under his breath, realizing the boom was a clap of thunder. Right after that, he remembered that Sam was a few feet away. How he had allowed himself to fall asleep when a four-year-old was in his care, he would never know. He lifted his head slightly to search for the boy and panicked slightly, not seeing the boy where he had been last. "Sam?!"

"What?" came a tiny, tired voice from Gibbs' side.

Gibbs looked down and saw that the boy was right beside him. He smiled to himself. _Probably scared of the thunder and lightning_. "Sorry I fell asleep, buddy. You okay?"

Sam looked down and blushed. "I'm scared."

Gibbs frowned and sat up. "Of what? The noise? The thunder?"

Sam nodded.

Gibbs over exaggerated a sigh and shifted closer to the boy. "I used to be scared of it as a kid, too."

Sam looked at him. "Really?" he raised his eyebrows.

Gibbs laughed. "Yeah." He shifted again to get more comfortable. "Your mom ever tell you what it is?"

Sam shrugged. "She said the sky's yelling at the clouds for stopping him from seeing the world."

Gibbs smiled. "I like that."

Sam looked at him. "You think it's true?"

Gibbs shrugged. "I don't know. What do you think?"

"I think it is." Sam nodded.

Gibbs nodded. "Then it is." He got up and swung his leg over the partial skeleton of the boat's hull. They had found themselves there at one point early in the night and then stayed there. "Come on. You liked working on the boat before. Wanna do it again? That'll get your mind off of the noise." He offered.

"Yeah!"

"Okay." Gibbs helped Sam down, then got the sandpaper and the dullest tools on the counter, handing the boy a small piece of sandpaper. "You remember what I told you? With the grain. To the left." He took Sam's hand that had the sandpaper, and did the action that he had instructed, to remind him how to do it, then sat back and carefully watched as the boy sanded the boat.

Sam, curious if he was doing it right, looked back at Gibbs at one point, and saw that the man was looking at him and smiling, but he recognized it was a sad smile. "Mr. Gibbs? Are you okay?" he flinched a bit when there was a clap of thunder, but he was more concerned about his mom's new friend.

"Huh? Oh. Yeah, I'm fine, Sam. Just thinking…"

Sam stopped sanding and turned around. " 'Bout what?" he sat down.

Gibbs smiled. "You just remind me of someone I knew a long time ago."

"Who?" Sam continued.

Gibbs laughed weakly. "My daughter. Her name was Kelly… she liked sanding the boat as much as it looks like you do… she would've liked you. I can tell."

"Where is she?" Sam asked.

Gibbs' smile faltered. "She died a few years ago…"

Sam frowned, then a moment later, got up and hugged the older man.

Gibbs laughed weakly again and patted the boy's back. "Thanks,"

Sam pulled away and nodded. "Both you and your mom make me think of someone, actually."

"Who does my mom make you think of?" Sam asked.

Gibbs sighed. He didn't know why he was suddenly thinking of the dead so much, but he was. "Her name was Kate. Kate Todd. She was one of my agents, too. Your mom and her have a lot in common." Gibbs replied, then paused. "Maybe that's why I'm so easy on her, even with her being the new addition, just for a little while or not."

" 'Was'?" Sam inquired.

Gibbs laughed again, then raised an eyebrow, studying the boy. "You're smarter than you look, kid. Smart for your age, too. Your mom taught you well."

Sam shrugged. "My mom always asks 'was' when someone says 'was' about a person. I think it means something bad."

Gibbs patted Sam's head. "It usually does, buddy. It does now, at least. Kate's somewhere up there with my Kelly." He rolled over so he was facing the ceiling.

Sam followed his lead, then giggled. "This is like Lion King!"

Gibbs smiled. "I guess it is, huh?" he looked up, purposely making the top of his head touch Sam's. "You're a good kid, Sammy. Kate would've liked you, too…"

A few moments of silence passed, when Gibbs realized it was just that: Silent. The storm must've passed. "Alright, kiddo. It should be okay now. Go back to sleep. I'm right here."

Sam yawned, then turned back around and shifted, so he was curled up against Gibbs' side.

The action just about broke and melted Gibbs' heart all at once. "Have good dreams, buddy."

"You too." Sam replied sleepily.

Gibbs waited a few minutes until Sam's breathing slowed and he could tell the boy was asleep before he got up and went over to his hardware drawer, quietly sorting through everything. Anything that worked to keep him awake was fine with him. He would worry about having someone take care of Sam in the morning.

--

The next morning, Tony bolted upright when he saw the familiar man in the elevator as the doors opened. He was fifteen minutes late. That barely ever happened. "Boss! Took you a while, where ya been?!" Tony grinned wryly.

Gibbs shot him a nasty look while coming towards the cubicles, then the answer to Tony's question came hurrying out from behind him.

"UNCLE TONY, UNCLE TONY!" Sam just about launched himself into the man's arms.

"Sammy!" Tony put on a grin in record time and got a better hold of the boy. He looked back at Gibbs. "Not so easy to find a babysitter, huh?" He grinned again, then paused, remembering just where Sam was. "…I'm the babysitter, aren't I?"

"Yup. Thanks for volunteering." Gibbs patted the brunette's back, then got to his seat. "Alright, what's new in the Stone case?"

"Abby found D.N.A belonging to an Officer Cliff Owens." Ziva replied from the opposite desk. "The man we spoke to yesterday. He said he was at the Rio Grande restaurant. We also found he was not there. The cat is in the bag."

"Out of the bag," Tony mumbled.

Ziva just rolled her eyes.

Gibbs nodded. "Alright, Ziva, McGee, with me. Lets pay Owens another visit."

The three headed for the elevator.

Tony sighed, then looked at Sam. "Just you and me again, huh kid?"

"Yup."

Tony shook his head. "You gotta learn sarcasm, Sam I am."

"Learn what?"

"Never mind."

--

Another day passed, and Jessica was due at the airport within a few minutes. Gibbs had barely made it out the door to get to the car without Sam nearly tripping him as he ran around. "Someone would think you're excited, Sam." He teased, heading down the porch stairs.

"I am! Mommy's coming home. Come on, Uncle Gibbs!" he tugged on the man's hand.

"Uncle Jethro, if you wanna get specific."

Sam didn't seem to catch the correction. He gave Gibbs' hand another yank "Come-" he pulled harder. "ON!"

Gibbs laughed, picking up the pace. "I'm coming, hold your horses. You're gonna pull me arm out of its socket if you keep it up. Go on, get in the car."

Sam slid into the backseat as Gibbs got into the front and started backing up.

Gibbs fiddled with the radio and found a decent station. However, he would never admit it, but he had to agree. The Jonas Brothers and that Hannah Montana or Hannah Banana, whatever it was, were downright awful.

Within twenty minutes, they were at the pick-up area of the airport, and Jessica was waiting for them. Gibbs had to grab Sam's jacket at the last minute to keep the boy from jumping out of the car when it was slowing down. Once it was stopped, he let Sam go, then got out with the boy. "Hi. How was your trip?"

"Bumpy. I didn't miss much, did I?" Jessica asked, bouncing Sam up and down on her knee as Sam clung to her shoulders.

Gibbs shook his head, getting her suitcase and putting it in the trunk. "Not much. Gotta say it's funny how easy you get used and warm up to someone giving DiNozzo a hard time, though."

Jessica smiled. "That's my job. I really am sorry I had to leave after a couple of days here."

"Well, you're back now. Not to mention, like I told you on the phone, I would've thought less of you if you didn't go to support your sister."

"Thanks." Jessica nodded. "Sam, come on, sweetie. You gotta let me go so I we can get in the car and I can take you home." She told her son, as he didn't let go of her when she opened the backdoor to the car.

"Sorry, he can't go home just yet. I'll watch him, but I need you and Tony on a special case." Gibbs interrupted.

Jess raised an eyebrow after she finally got Sam to let go and got him settled in the back. "Oh?" she slid into the co-passenger seat. "What case would that be?"

"You'll find out shortly. You won't like it, but you'll find out."

"…Great?"

--

Gibbs growled a bit, watching as Jessica and Tony seemed to be doing the first mutual thing they had since Jessica has arrived in Washington a few days before. They were currently in front of him, leaning on each other, laughing hysterically at what Gibbs had just assigned them. They had gone from shock, to anger, and now they were laughing. How'd that add up?"

"Us… undercover together as a happy couple at a fancy restaurant? Having a civilized conversation?! You think that's gonna work out? Oh, boss, that's too good!" Was what Tony had said before the laughter had begun.

"Yes, actually, so get over it. You two are the only ones who could make it seem real." Gibbs replied.

"Did you forget we pulled guns on each other when we saw each other before?" Tony asked, after his fit of laughter was over.

"Yes, but the question is do I care? Answer is no. Think of happier times. Get dressed for the place, go to it, have a conversation, faun over each other. Trent's already gotten the assignment."

Now Jessica stopped laughing. "Wait, he's in on this?"

Gibbs nodded. "Fit the wanted the profile."

"Wanted profile?" the other two inquired.

"Yes. Enough questions." Gibbs shoved a file into both of their hands. "This is the guy you have to observe. Don't engage him, though. The address in there, too."

Tony snorted. "Boss, come on. This isn't gonna work out. She and I can't have a civilized conversation for more than two minutes!"

"Then have a bunch of one minute conversations. I need eyes in there and you two can and need to make it happen."

"But boss-"

"NOW!"

"Yes sir!" Tony hooked his arm around Jessica's, dragging her away. "This'll be good. Don't make me look bad."

"_Excuse_ me?!"

"Oh, shut up and come _on_!"


	7. Peace, at a Cost

**A/N: Kinda cliffhanger chapter, yay. I don't own NCIS, blah blah blah, enjoy and review.**

Tony didn't hide the fact that he was impressed and then some when Jessica walked into the elevator around twenty minutes later in a classic little black dress. "Whoa, Jess, you've been holding out on me."

Jessica smirked. "You wish."

"Hell yes, I do." Tony leaned back.

Realizing he was now staring at her ass, Jessica practically threw herself against the wall to prevent him from continuing. "Uh uh."

Tony smirked. "You can't stop me. Are you packing heat?" He raised his eyebrows suggestively. "Where are you keeping your gun?" He leaned back again.

"Again, back off." Jessica replied, smirk still intact.

"Or else I'll find out?" Tony's grin widened.

"No, or else I'll kick you were it counts." Jessica shot back.

Tony laughed. "Again?"

Jessica smacked his arm.

Tony hissed. "Ow! Hey!" He smacked her arm in return.

Jess smacked his shoulder now.

Again, Tony returned the action.

Before either of them knew it, it was a full-out smack fight.

--

When it came to things that didn't surprise Gibbs when it came to what was on the other side of the elevator, the man felt nothing could surprise him. He had seen people slumped half dead against the side, bleeding all over the floor, coworkers bickering, having a friendly conversation, people delivering mail, or just plain waiting for the doors to open. However, when he saw Jessica and Tony on the other side of the automatic doors, more specifically, Tony and Jessica making out against one of the walls, he wasn't sure if he should've added it to the things he expected, or didn't. One thing he did know, was that Sam was now gawking at the two.

"MOMMY?!"

Gibbs covered the boy's eyes and mouth, then turned him around, just as the two shoved each other away. He raised an eyebrow, but that was all. Classic Gibbs.

Ducky, who had been reporting something to Gibbs, looked amused and covered up a chuckle.

Tim nearly dropped his coffee. "What?" He looked from Jessica to Tony, horrified. "How'd that happen?!"

The guilty parties just looked down and kicked at the floor.

Gibbs shook his head. "Don't wanna know, don't care. Just get out to Delios."

Tony laughed. "Boss, I uh…"

Gibbs frowned at him.

Tony looked down. "Need to get my car keys." He ran over to his desk.

Jessica blinked. "I'll uh… meet you in the car…Trent's meeting us there, apparently."

"Uh huh." Tony mumbled.

Jessica quickly turned on her heel and got back into the elevator. Gibbs had asked to see them, but she figured it couldn't have been that important if he just stared at them after… _that_, and told them that he didn't want to know. With that thought, she smacked the side of the elevator. She had just made out with Tony. Her ex goddamn boyfriend. She didn't even know how it began. One second, they were exchanging slaps and shoves, and then he had her against the wall, and their mouths were together. She didn't even know if she had initiated. The fact that she was the one against the wall hinted at Tony, but he was just that kind of guy, initiator or not. "Shit…"

Back on the main floor, Tony had gotten his keys and was now looking down at the floor again, not meeting any looks. He never realized how long it actually took for the elevator to get from point A to point B. He finally looked up when he realized something. Gibbs was still holding Sam against his jacket. "…You're gonna suffocate the kid and Jess is gonna find a way to blame me." He pointed out.

Gibbs looked down and pulled Sam away.

The boy coughed and sputtered overdramatically, then collapsed against Gibbs' leg. He looked at Tony, and the admiration that was once in his eyes was now gone, replaced by confusion and shock.

Tony laughed once, then practically dove into the elevator when the familiar 'ding' sounded and the doors opened. He jammed his thumb into the "close doors" button, and went to the side to avoid the look that Tim still had on his face. "Now Probie has leverage. Damn it!" He hit the wall with the side of his fist. Within five minutes, he was in the car, and the two were on their way to Delios restaurant, without so much as a word to each other.

Another few minutes passed, and they arrived. Again, no words were exchanged as they made their way to the front, where Trent was waiting, apparently amusing himself by swinging himself around on his crutches.

Tony smirked. "Don't hurt yourself, Lennox." He clapped the man on the back, nearly sending him to the ground.

Trent glared at him. "Charming, DiNozzo," He turned to his sister. "Hey, this place is like, right behind your house!" Trent grinned, pointing over his shoulder.

"Yeah, I know, Trent. I saw that on the way here." Jessica replied, a little too shortly for his taste.

Trent watched her as she walked into the restaurant without a word. "…What did you do to her, DiNozzo?"

"Nothing!"

Again, the answer came too quickly for Trent's liking. Knowing their past, he jumped to a conclusion that happened to be the truth. "Did a spark come back?. Our uncle Rob's gonna get his shotgun out and hunt Tony down."

"Shut up, Trent." Tony snapped. "You're a lot like the other Trent I know. Trust me, that's not a good thing." He stalked inside, leaving Trent alone.

It took that piece of information a while to register in Trent's mind. "What?" he turned around to address anyone who was around him, but found none. "Ugh! Guys! Guys!" He shook his head, righted his crutches, and went inside.

--

Inside, Tony was ready and willing to give the host or hostess that would seat them a run for their money. He wa in the middle of a drum roll on the podium when a rather tall, thin man in a suit approached them and grabbed Tony's hand to stop them. "May I help you?" He looked Tony up and down with contempt.

Tony smirked, catching the look. He pried his hand free. "Yeah, hiya, buddy." He greeted with an over exaggerated Chicago accent that seemed oddly familiar to Jessica. "We reserved a table for three under Jonathan Magnum."

The name was what gave away why the voice was familiar. "…Really?"

"Yes, Rikki." Tony nodded, giving her a 'play along' look. He clapped Trent's back again. "And this is my brother in law, Calvin Wright."

Trent kept from rolling his eyes and smiled at the waiter.

The waiter sent a sarcastic smile back, checked the list, then nodded for them to follow him as he led them to a table.

The three got settled, and the man hurried off.

"Wonder what's up his-" Tony began, but there was a sharp crackle in the earpiece he had in, and then Gibbs' voice, rudely, Tony might add, interrupted his thought process.

"_You there yet?"_

"Just got seated, boss." Tony replied, looking down, trying to make it look like he wasn't checking the file of Sean Grayson Gibbs had given him.

"_You see our man yet?"_ Gibbs continued.

Tony glanced around, then spotted the one they were looking for: a dark haired, tall, chunky man, better known as Sean Grayson. "Yeah, we got him, boss. Two tables to our right." He said the last bit just a bit louder so the other two could turn around.

"_Fine. If he mentions Robertson, you make sure you catch every word. I finished here, I'll be with you guys within a few minutes."_

"Got it, boss." Tony mumbled, being that the waiter was back. "Hey, long time no see!"

"Mm hm. Can I start any of you off with a drink?"

"Water, thanks." Jessica replied.

"Same." The men chorused.

The waiter muttered something, then walked off.

Tony scoffed. "What's up his ass?"

"Not important." Jess cut him off, then saw Grayson get up. "He's mobile."

The other two looked at the retreating man.

Tony frowned. "You think he's onto us?"

"Only one way to find out. One of you follow him. I'll stay here with the other and hold down the fort."

"I'll go, you guys stay." Tony got up. "If I'm not back in ten, come find me." He replied. "Looks like you and I lucked out with the conversation, huh?" he looked at Jessica.

Jessica shrugged.

Tony speed-walked to catch up with the man.

A couple of minutes later, Jessica and Trent spotted Grayson coming out from one of the hallways and towards the exit.

Trent didn't care for the situation. "Where's DiNozzo?"

However, Tony came out of the same hallway a couple of moments later and made a hand signal for them to split up and use different exits.

"Something going down?" Trent mumbled.

"Again, only one way to find out." Jessica replied as she got up and headed towards the back.

"What, are you just gonna leave me here?!" Trent demanded.

"That's the only choice you have with those!" Jessica replied.

Trent tossed his arms up in retreat, and groaned as the waiter, who had already started to come back with their drinks, saw the retreating two, looked at him, and just sighed. "This is gonna be fun…"

--

Tony had never lost a mark so fast. The man had practically disappeared within the first few seconds of being outside. Had Grayson been onto them? He pressed the communication device in his ear closer. "I lost him, guys."

"He's not here, either." Came Jessica's reply. "But I have an idea. Maybe he tried to escape out back behind the fence. Tony, come back here to me."

"Got it." Tony headed around to the back of the building, flashing a badge at a worker who was yelling about something. He had to do a double-take when he realized what the yelling was about. Jessica was actually climbing the tree in the back. "Jess?! What the Hell?!"

"Getting a better vantage point. Here, hold these."

Tony ducked and covered to avoid the pair of black high heels that nearly came down on his head. "How?!"

"Higher equals better view, genius." She replied.

"Duh, but seriously, how'd you…?" he laughed, seeing a glimpse of a black pants leg from the tree. "Under the dress."

"Uh huh. Anyway, I'm trying to see if he's making his way down one of these streets, now shut up."

"…Can you see your house from there?" Tony offered up a change of subject.

"Yes, actually. It's right… wait…"

"What?" Tony called up.

Jessica gulped. "Tony… did Gibbs say that he sent a babysitter to my place, or Sam to a babysitter's place before this?"

"Yours… why?" Tony asked, and then for the second time in five minutes, had to duck to avoid something land on him. He never expected it to be Jess, and she was pale.

"Screw this stakeout right now, at least for me." Jessica replied, shaking off the impact and hurrying off towards the break in the fence.

Tony followed her. "Why?"

"Because someone uknown guy in all black with a gun is is my house, two rooms down from my son's room, Tony!" Jessica replied.

"_What?!" _

Tony jumped, forgetting his mic was on, and Gibbs could probably hear everything going on. "You heard that, boss?"

"Hell yes, I did! How does she know?"

"…This place is practically her backyard and the glass door in the master bedroom has a clear view of the hallway since the bedroom door's open?" Tony replied in one breath.

"Where's Jess?"

"On her way over there."

"_And why aren't you with her?!" _

"Trying to find our guy Gray-"

"_We found Grayson easy enough today, we can get him again! Help your partner! Backup's on its way." _

"Sure thing, boss. Jess, hold up!" He went to catch up with her, only to find she had disappeared as well. "What is it with chases today?!" He ran to the back and up the stairs, only to hear screeching towards the front. He cursed, jumped over the banister and landed back on the ground and ran to the front, to see a car beginning to speed up. However, the most important detail slammed into his head a moment later.

Someone was in the middle of shoving someone with a small, familiar head of light blonde hair into the back as the car was going. "SAM?!" He ran after the car, knowing the attempt was going to end in failure. It always did. Sure enough, the car got enough speed, and within seconds, it was half a block down the road. "DAMN IT!" Tony grabbed hold of his hair. How was he going to tell Jess, who was probably still inside worrying about her son, that he had just watched said son getting shoved into a car? He groaned, then was back to running into the house, since he heard Jessica scream his name through one of the open windows. He knew it had something to do with what he had just seen.

He quickly made his way back to the back stairs and into the house. "Where are you?" There was no reply. He winced, expecting it. Sam's room. It made sense. He went inside the boy's room, and sure enough, there was Jessica, kneeling on the floor, holding a slip of paper, using one of Sam's blanket as a makeshift glove. His heart went out to her for the first time in the entirety she had been there, being that the way she was kneeling, it was obvious her knees had given way. He couldn't not tell her, now. "We… uh… missed it by seconds. When I got into your yard, they were driving… whoever has him.… I tried to get 'em… you can imagine how that went… is that a…" he practically choked on the next words. "Ransom note or something?"

Jessica nodded slowly, then moved it up for him to see.

Tony squinted to read it, and his stomach flipped once again.

_You should be more careful about what your friends say out loud. We have your son. We're going to carry on with our business without your team's interference. If we so much as see one of you, the boy dies. We have our way of knowing, too. _

Tony winced. They were always so simple, but sinister. The ones without a money ransom like this one were always the worst, even if it didn't seem like it. Not knowing what else to do, Tony put a hand on Jessica's back, and she practically fell against his side. "We're gonna find the bastards who did this. I promise." He heard the door creak again and brought his gun up, only to find it pointed at Gibbs. He relaxed and let the weapon drop.

Gibbs, who also had his weapon out and pointed at Tony, also lowered his. He looked from Jessica, to Tony, to the note, then Sam's bed, and back to Tony.

After all the years Tony had known Gibbs, he had come to learn that Gibbs talked and asked questions with his eyes, and the unvoiced question was the most easy to translate. The younger man nodded at his boss, then pulled Jessica closer. At the moment, it was just about all he could do.


	8. All These Lives

**a/n: I don't own NCIS, blah blah blah. I own the Lennoxes and anyone else who's not from the show. I don't own "All These Lives" either.**

_Glass is sprayed across the floor  
From the broken window.  
She can't breathe anymore.  
Can't deny what we know.  
They're gonna find you, just believe.  
You're not a person; you're a disease.  
All these lives that you've been taking,  
Deep inside, my heart is breaking.  
Broken homes from separation.  
Don't you know it's violation?  
It's so wrong, but you'll see.  
Never gonna let you take my world from me.  
The world outside these walls may know you're breathing,  
But you ain't comin' in._  
- "All These Lives": Daughtry

Tony DiNozzo had figured the most awkward it would be between him and Jessica was when they pulled guns on each other. Now, as he sat on her front stoop right beside her in dead silence, he realized it wasn't. This was clearly the most awkward it would be… hopefully. He looked down and hid a smile. From age ten and on, Tony had always believed that when two people were sitting side by side and the outside of their thighs were touching, there was a great deal of trust between them. They were comfortable around each other. Now he wasn't so sure. He looked back up when there was a shuffle behind them. His head snapped back around when he saw that it was the EMTs wheeling out the babysitter who Gibbs had hired. He just prayed she was alive, being that they had found her shortly after recovering from the initial shock about Sam. The woman was badly beaten, with what were probably knife wounds all over her. He felt Jessica tense up as she glanced over as well. She squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. "They'll fix her up." He wasn't sure if he was trying to convince her or himself.

"Fat chance," she replied.

Tony sighed. _Guess it's just me. _

"What am I gonna do, Tone?" she whispered.

"I don't know… as an agent… I say hold tight and let us do our jobs… as your ex…" He paused and waited for the tiniest reaction from her, but when none came, he continued. "…I'd say just try to hang in there, in which I know you won't, and just try to avoid doing anything reckless…. Unless I'm there to back you up."

Jessica raised an eyebrow. "Since when do you wanna help me out and be a caring guy?"

"Since some bastard kidnapped your kid, who I happen to adore. Nobody gets to torment you in any way but me." Tony replied.

Jessica stared at him for a while, waiting for him to start laughing, or have something in his eyes that gave away he was fooling around or lying. Granted, the last bit was supposed to be humorous, but the first, not at all. When she didn't find anything, she let out a half sob and threw one arm around him in a hug. "Thank you."

Tony repositioned his chin on her shoulder and patted her back. "You got it." He was ready to kill whoever cleared their throat in the next moment for ruining theirs. "What?" he demanded, a bit too harshly than he had wanted, but he didn't care. He let 'I'm turning into Gibbs more and more every day' cross his mind for a second before he glowered at the cop after he let go of Jessica.

"We uh… we're gonna… need a… gonna…."

"Spit it out!" Tony snapped, only to realize there was another voice that joined in. Speak of the Devil. Gibbs came into view from behind the officer, and he too was glaring down the officer.

"We're gonna need a statement from Ms. Lennox and Mr. DiNozzo."

"Can it wait?" Gibbs replied.

The officer stared at him, blinked, nodded, then ran off.

Gibbs watched him, then looked back at Jessica. "Jess, walk with me for a minute?"

"Sure." Jessica got up and the two walked off, just as Tim got to Tony.

Tim smiled weakly in greeting. "Hey. Uh… how's-"

"How would you be if you were in her shoes, Probie?" Tony replied.

Tim nodded sadly. "Right…"

Tony nodded. "Any leads?"

Tim shook his head. "These guys must've mapped out the cameras and the trees, the whole nine yards. They're covered the whole time, even after you came running up."

Tony groaned.

Tim shrugged. "I know. It's all we can do for now."

Tony paced in a tight circle. "…Did Gibbs get any arrangements for Jess spending the night anywhere?"

"No. I figure she's gonna spend the night at Trent's or Blake or whatever her other brother's name is…"

Tony nodded. "Alright. Gets me off the hook for supplying a place to stay after what just went on between Jess and I."

Tim looked up. "Something happened?"

"No." He waited for either Gibbs or Jessica to look his way to approach, but he figured it wasn't going to happen soon. The other two were relatively close, talking quietly. There was something in Gibbs' eyes Tony hadn't seen in ages: Sympathy. His interest was piqued when Gibbs looked down and stopped talking then looked up and started talking again. That wasn't like him at all. Jessica suddenly looked guilty and mumbled something, looking down herself. "What the Hell…?"

"You saw that, too?" Tim asked.

"Let's just hope it's not bad news about Sam." Tony headed over to the other two. Ziva met them halfway.

"The neighbors all saw the car, and that is it." Ziva reported.

"Oh, come on, someone saw something!" Tony objected.

"They did not tell me." Ziva shook her head.

Tony crossed his arms and looked down. "I don't like this."

Gibbs scoffed. "None of us do, DiNozzo."

Tony's mouth twitched. He found three rocks in a row on the lawn and suddenly found them quite interesting.

Gibbs turned his attention back to Jessica. "We can't do much until Ducky and Palmer take care of their end of this whole thing. We're not allowed that far in, either. We're gonna have to wait until the morning. If you need anything, you call me." He offered.

"Thanks. I will." Jessica nodded.

Gibbs looked her over once more before turning and leaving.

Ziva turned to Jessica. "I take you are not… holding down well."

"Up." Jessica corrected subconsciously. She was now used to the other woman's slip-ups. "And definitely not." She glanced at her cell phone. "Geez, it's 11:15… I have to call Jimmy and my family. Tell them what happened."

"One already knows." Tony replied.

Jessica raised an eyebrow at him. "What?"

Tony nodded at a spot behind her.

She turned, then saw Blake, clad in jeans, a yellow T-shirt, and a skull cap hopping over the short picket fence between her yard and her neighbor's. She sighed. "One down, the rest to go." She mumbled, leaning into Blake as the younger man immediately pulled her into a hug when he got about an arms length away from her. "I came as soon as I heard. Are you alright?"

Jessica shook her head against his shoulder.

Blake put his arms around her. "What'd ya say to spending the night at my place tonight, huh?"

"Stop by at Jim's and Trent's first and you got yourself a deal."

"Sure thing." Blake looked at the others. "Mind if we leave now? Anything else needed?"

"That cop from before will need a statement, but it can wait til morning." Tim replied.

"Or later. Your sister will probably be unable to sleep tonight." Ziva agreed.

Tony sighed. "Who _would_ be able to?"

The others didn't have any return remarks.

---

Tony tossed in his bed for what seemed like the thirtieth time. Why the Hell was he so worried? Yes, his favorite four year old, possibly ever, had been kidnapped, but what made it different than any other kidnapping case? Jess was his ex girlfriend. An ex girlfriend he had just happened to make out with a few hours before, then been her shoulder to cry on a couple of hours after that. He groaned out loud and glanced at the clock. It was three in the morning. "Damn it!" his conscience and desire to sleep had stopped arguing. His conscience won. Part of him knew Jessica was going to be awake. He reached for his phone and went through his contacts. He let out a snort when he found her number listed under "Do Not Pick Up." He had forgotten to change it now that she had fallen back into his life. He pressed send, then put the phone to his ear.

One ring.

Two rings.

Three rings.

"Hello?"

"Yeah, Jess, I- you're not Jess… Blake?"

"Uh huh. I take you're "Asshole", DiNozzo? If this is even you."

Tony laughed. Guess he wasn't the only one who needed up update his caller I.D. "Yeah. Your uh… is your sister there?"

"She's right here. I'll put her on."

"Thanks." He waited a few seconds, then when there was a crackle of static, he went on. "Hey, Jess."

"Hi."

"How are you?"

"Haven't changed much in the last few hours."

"Figured that. You tell everyone you need to tell what happened? You want me to make a few calls-"

"No, but thanks. I pretty much got to everyone. Jim swung by earlier-"

"And?" Tony cut her off, waiting to hear that he yelled at her for not being careful or the like.

"He's worried, too. He wanted details."

"He still there?" Tony asked.

"In the other room, yeah."

"And Trent?"

"Right here, next to Blake." She replied.

Tony laughed weakly. "Well, sounds like you're taken care of. I uh… just wanted to check up on you." He glanced at the mirror on the wall and sent himself a "what the Hell was that?" look through it.

"Thanks, Tony. Really. I appreciate it. Never thought I'd see the day, but I really am grateful."

"No problem. Uh…"

"Yeah…" Jessica sighed.

"Bye."

"Bye." Tony hung up and was tempted to throw the phone against the wall. That was the weakest emotion in a phone call that required emotion he had ever had. "Damn it." Why was it so hard all of a sudden? He rolled onto his back. "What're you doing, DiNozzo? These are bad waters you're getting into." The strange thing was, he didn't even care.

**A/N: Yeah, I know Tony's totally OOC in this chap except for a few spots. I needed him to be deep sometime, so I just chose it here… yeah… tell me what you thought.  
Until next time,  
Phantom**


	9. Stepping Down

Jessica stared at the wall of the elevator. She didn't ever realize how long the ride to the main floor of the NCIS building actually was.

"Jess, really, if you need anything…" Tim, who was in the elevator with her, had been talking, but she hadn't really even realized it until he voiced the offer.

She looked at him. "Thanks, Tim, really, but I'm fine for now. I have my brothers and sisters… and my ex taking care of me and not leaving me alone. The offer's appreciated. You're sweet."

Tim nodded. "Just making sure."

Jessica leaned over and kissed his cheek, just as the elevators door opened. Abby, who was right on the other side, paused, seeing them, but after realizing that it was nothing more than friendly, if not sisterly, she grabbed Jessica's wrists and pulled her out. "Are you okay?" She pulled the woman into a tight hug.

Jessica laughed weakly, hugging her back. "As okay as any person would be in this situation… I hope."

Abby squeezed her harder for one more moment before pulling away. "You bring 'em?"

Jessica held up a bag with a hairbrush and toothbrush in it. "Here. What else do you need?"

"I recorded blue eyes, blonde hair, but what's his height, roughly?"

Jessica shook her head. "Three foot is my best guest. God, I don't even remember what he weighed the last time I took him to the doctor." She buried her face in her hands. "How could I have let this happen?"

"You didn't see this coming, that's how."

Jessica peaked out from between two fingers to see Gibbs enter the area. "Huh?"

Gibbs motioned for her to follow him. He led her over to the side, where he sat her down. "Don't you dare start blaming yourself for this. Don't go thinking you could've prevented it. Like it or not, there was no way you could've."

"Gibbs, with all due respect, bullshit. I could've been home. If I had actually stood up and told you that the whole thing with Tony was a bad idea, I would've been home. I would've been able to protect him."

"Jess, stop thinking like that while you're ahead, 'cause once you do, you never stop." Gibbs replied.

Jessica frowned. "How…?" she winced. "Your wife and daughter. I'm sorry…"

Gibbs nodded. "Exactly. Hey, look at me."

Jessica half-heartedly met his eyes.

Gibbs put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "There was no way you could've seen it coming. You know what matters? Sam's a smart, strong kid. What made him be so strong? You. Jess, he knows things other kids his age don't- Hell, he knows things a six year old doesn't. You taught him well. He's gonna be fine."

Jessica let a couple of tears that she didn't realize she was holding fall. "How do you know?"

"I know you, and I know Sam." Gibbs replied. "He's gonna get through. We're gonna find him."

Jessica laughed weakly. "I thought you were supposed to be mean to the agents who work under you."

Gibbs smirked. "Well, I'm not talking to one of my agents right now. I'm talking to a worried mom."

Jessica smiled again. "Thanks. Ugh. I'm notg going against you, but… how are we gonna get him back without interfering with the case?"

"We'll figure it out. I give you my word. I won't let anything happen to Sammy."

Jessica laughed again.

Gibbs raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"I've… I've never heard you call him Sammy is all."

Gibbs slowly cracked a smile as well, then nodded. "There's a first time for everything. Now, do you want another case to work on, or…?"

Jessica shook her head. "That's just it. I knew I could just give the hair brush and toothbrush to Tony or someone to give to Abby, but…"

Gibbs leaned forward. "But…?"

Jessica reached behind her on her belt and took out her gun, then took her badge from the front of her jeans. "I'm turning these in, at least for now. I don't trust myself with these."

Gibbs took them, then stared at them for a while. "…Are you sure?"

Jessica nodded.

Gibbs sighed. "Well, once this is over, if Trent's still out, even if he's in… a spot's always open."

Jessica sighed. "Thanks."

Gibbs nodded again. "Well, if you're gonna do this, then you'll have to talk to Leon."

"I understand." Jessica nodded. "So, just call him."

Gibbs shook his head. "No. Just follow me in." He headed towards the stairs and waited for her to come after him before going back up. When they reached the office, Jessica had to smile when the receptionist looked at Gibbs, got a look of irritation, and looked right back down.

Gibbs opened the doors to the Director's office, then motioned for her to go in.

Director Leon Vance glanced up as both slipped inside. "Gibbs. Ms. Lennox. Can I help you?" he paused. "I'm sorry. This must be about your son, Ms. Lennox."

Jessica opened her mouth, but found no words came out. Her plan of talking with him had suddenly gone out the window.

Gibbs cleared his throat and nudged her forward with his leg.

Jessica turned and glared at him briefly, then took her badge and gun from him and put them on the desk in front of him. "I'm stepping down as an agent for now. I can't concentrate, and I don't honestly trust myself with them with this going on."

Leon sighed, looking from the equipment to her. "I can't say I blame you. I appreciate you doing this before something happened."

"That was the plan, sir." Jessica replied.

Leon nodded. "There's some paperwork you need to take care of, then you're free to go, and welcomed to stay to keep up with the details with your son."

"Thank you." Jessica nodded. "So, let me at the paperwork, I guess."

--

Jessica sighed, heading down the stairs after the paperwork was done, and glanced over at one of the screens on the wall of the main room. Her heart sunk when she saw Sam's face on a profile that popped up. She had seen that so many times in the past, and now that she knew the person on it- had given birth to the child on it- it was scary, and it hit home a little too much. She didn't even know how she managed to get to the floor and over to her section of Tony's desk, getting some of her own things that were on it and putting them in her bag. She didn't notice Tony come up behind her.

"Hey…" the man offered.

Jessica turned. "Oh. Hi."

Tony poked at his monitor. "You uh… want a ride home or anything?"

"I'll probably stick around here for a bit, actually. I just want to make sure we haven't missed anything from the night until now."

Tony nodded. "Fine." He knelt down and opened one of the left-side desk drawers.

Jessica raised an eyebrow when he pulled up an airplane pillow and a blanket.

Tony held them out to her. "The most comfortable spot in Abby's lab is the one under the table opposite the computer island."

Jessica paused, then smiled. "Thanks to you, too."

"Heh." Tony bowed his head slightly. "So how's Trent, 007 and Hates-Me-a-Lot?"

"They're all fine. Really helpful,"

"Really? 007, too?"

Jessica shot him a look, folding the blanket in her arms. "Yes, actually. It is his son caught up in this, after all."

"It's still weird." Tony shrugged.

"You met the guy once!" Jessica replied.

"Yeah, and at the end of the visit Gibbs punched him in the face!" Tony argued.

"But-"

"Oh, just go get settled in Abby's lab." Tony waved her off.

Jessica sighed. "You're an idiot, you know that?"

"We've been over this. I've been called worse by-" He was interrupted when something hit the back of his head. It took him a moment to realize that it was the heel of Gibbs' hand. "Ow! Him." He replied. "What was that for?!"

"Getting your and her attention." Gibbs replied, then grabbed Jessica's shoulder. "Jess, go to the lab so you're by the first place we contact. We may have something on Sam."

Jessica's head shot up. "Really?"

Gibbs nodded. "Don't know if it'll get anywhere, but prints on the note matched some another team just found."

"But the note said-" Jessica began, but Gibbs cut her off again.

"The note said they'd do something if we interfered on a certain case. Not if we followed up with the note." Gibbs explained.

The side of Jessica's mouth turned up slightly. "You guys are awesome."

Gibbs laughed, then glanced at Tim and Ziva as they came up behind him. "Let's move."

The three left.

Tony glanced at Jessica. "You sure you're gonna be okay?"

Jessica nodded. "Tony, I don't care if it's bad news… just come back with news about my son."

Tony nodded. "Will do." With a final look-over her, Tony ran to catch up with the others, and Jessica headed for the lab.


	10. Wait, What?

For the first time in ages, Tony felt nauseated thanks to a case. Just as he eventually figured it would, the lead on Sam had gotten them nowhere. They returned to the lab, only to find that a DVD had been delivered with no return address. After some debating and figuring that it involved Sam, timing was right, as was the tone it set, they played it. If the officer who delivered the DVD wasn't quick on his feet, he surely would've been throttled by Gibbs and Tony once they had watched it and asked him what the person who gave it to him looked like- in which he had no response.

The video on the DVD had started off fuzzy, then Sam slowly came into focus. The first time, Tony's heart just about stopped before sinking when he saw that the poor little boy has dirty, bruised, and a small trickle of blood was coming down the boy's mouth. Gibbs had gripped the table to the point his knuckles were white. Tony bolted for the door, got about three feet out of the room and punched the wall, wishing that he'd soon be doing the same to whoever had the kid. Once Gibbs got out, Tony looked at him. "I can't do this one, boss…"

Gibbs shook his head. "I was wrong. None of us can. We're gonna have to find a new team to do this one and just pray for the best."

"If we find him and he's…" Tony flinched as the image of Sam in the video flashed through his mind. "Just about that or a little worse… if he's still alive… or even thought to be still alive… I'm coming back on."

Gibbs nodded. "That makes two of us."

Tony looked down, then up. "Jess still here?"

Gibbs shook his head. "McGee convinced her to go home and get some sleep in something other than the floor… she went, but I highly doubt she's even sleeping."

Tony nodded. "I'm gonna go see her."

Gibbs nodded. "Go on. Tell her I said hang in there."

"Will do. You sure you don't want me around?"

Gibbs raised an eyebrow at him.

Tony rolled his eyes. "You know which way I mean that."

Gibbs smirked. "Like I said, go. I'll call you if I change my mind."

"Thanks, boss." With that, Tony left. It wasn't until he was about halfway to Jessica's house that he realized how stupid of a move it was. He was the ex-boyfriend, not ex-husband or whatever the hell Jimmy was to Jessica. He shouldn't be as worried as he was… should he? "Idiot, DiNozzo. Idiot!" He rocked back and forth in his seat once he reached a red light, looking over to see two attractive redheads staring at him. He sent a –tight-lipped smile at them and waved. They looked at each other and burst out laughing before zooming off as the light changed to green again. Tony let out a frustrated growl and turned the corner. Within another few minutes, he was at Jessica's. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't both worried and annoyed when he heard Jessica, no less with Jimmy. The two were having an argument… again. While it wasn't too loud, it was loud enough for Tony to want to kick down the door and beat the shit out of Jimmy for starting something at a time like this. It turned out there was no kicking required, being the door was already open. He didn't hesitate to make an entrance. "Ay!" He walked right into the kitchen. Jessica jumped about a foot in the air, not expecting another yell to join Jimmy's. Jimmy, on the other hand, just looked at Tony, looked back at Jessica, then went to leave.

Tony clenched his jaw and stuck out his arm, pushing the man back. "You're not going anywhere."

"Try and stop me." Jimmy replied.

Tony shrugged. "Just remember you gave me permission." He advanced on Jimmy to the point where the man backpedaled, right into the leg of the couch. He stumbled over it, landing with is back against the cushions.

Tony smirked. "Good. Now what were you two arguing about?"

Jimmy scoffed. "Why is it your business?"

"Because you're messing with my coworker, which is a death wish for you." Tony replied.

"You mean messed with your ex girlfriend?"

"My point still stands."

Jessica, who had been waiting for fireworks, finally had enough and stepped in between them. "Guys, stop it. This is ridiculous. You're like boys with toys." She looked at Tony, praying that the James Bond reference would get him out of his state. To her annoyance, it did, but only for a moment before he was glaring at Jimmy again. "Really. Stop it!"

"I'm not until he backs off and tells me what this was about and why he's screaming at you at a time like this." Tony replied.

"Tony, it was nothing. Please, just… drop it. Let him go." Jessica replied.

"No. This guy owes you an apology."

"Tony, drop it. He was checking up on me, just like you are-"

"Checking up on you by yelling at you?"

"Tony, I can handle myself here. I'm a big girl." She replied.

"Apparently not." Tony shot back.

Jimmy glared him down. "Fine. Whatever. I'm out." He grabbed his jacket from the couch and headed for the door.

Jessica followed him. "Jim, hold on."

Tony watched her, then scoffed. She had officially lost it. Uusally she would've punched the guy if he gave her Hell. He knew that firsthand. He turned his attention to one of the shelves in the living room were, looking at various pictures on them. There were ones of Sam at various ages, then Jessica with one of her siblings to all of them. He could've fallen over when he saw a picture that he had taken of the both of them around five years ago. Granted, it was now covered in dust and it was the farthest back, but it was still there. He'd be lying yet again if he said he wasn't curious as to why it was there. He decided to save it for later. Instead, he walked over to the shelf and picked up one of the pictures of Sam. The boy was probably a year younger than he was now, and God-only-knew-what was all around his mouth as he laughed away, looking at the camera. Tony chuckled, only to have a pang of pain at the realization the boy wasn't safe at home get to him. "Jesus…" He looked back in the kitchen where Jimmy and Jessica were still arguing, although their voices were low, but heated. He was about to interfere again when Jessica seemed to finally break, grabbed Jimmy's arm, turned him and shoved him outside before closing the door. She came back. "So what brings you here?" She asked quietly after a few moments of silence.

"…I'm worried about you." Tony admitted, also after a moment.

Jessica scoffed. "You think I'm gonna try something stupid."

"I never said that."

"You implied it." She replied.

Tony went to reply, then stopped. "Yeah. Yeah I did, didn't I?"

"Yup."

Another few minutes of silence passed. The silence spoke volumes… very loud volumes. Jessica opened her mouth as if she was about to say something, then shut it. She repeated the action a few times until a squeak came out. Realizing that her voice finally didn't completely give out on her, she decided to take the plunge. "…What happened to us, Tony?"

Tony paused, then let out a sarcastic laugh. "Well, let's see. I was talking to an old female friend from college, you drove up, saw me hugging her and thought the worst… so you slapped me, and when that didn't work and I seemed fine, you punched me in the face… and we didn't speak until you showed up a while ago." He replied matter-of-factly. When he saw her face drop even more, he grinned. "But no hard feelings, right?"

She frowned. "Please tell me you're kidding with the way you said that.."

" No, I wasn't, really. Hell, I'm over it. If I was, you think I would be here?"

Jessica shrugged. "Just feel guilty about Sam?"

Tony scoffed. "Wow, Jess. I just told off your other ex and you kick me where it counts with that? And I thought Ziva took some cheap shots."

Jessica sighed. "I'm sorry, it's just…"

"Hey, it's okay. Forget it. It was a joke."

"No it wasn't." Jessica replied.

Tony reached behind her and rubbed her back. "Easy. No harm meant."

Jessica sighed again, putting her head in her hands. "I know, I'm sorry, I just…"

"You're worried. It's okay, Jess. Really."

"No it's not. I shouldn't be a bitch to you… to anyone." She leaned back.

"You have an excuse." Tony argued.

"No, no I don't. I should be in control at a time like this." She shook her head.

Tony blinked. Where had all the contradiction come from all of a sudden? "Jess, you feelin' okay?"

"…I'm fine, it's just… UGH!" She got up and crossed to the other side of the room.

Tony frowned. Something else was wrong. "Jess? Did they contact you asking for ransom or something? Do you know something we don't?"

"No. It's just… a lot's on my mind with this… and other things."

Tony frowned. "What'd 007 say to you?"

"Nothing… it's not him. It's me."

Realizing that that was a classic line from abused parties in a relationship, Tony got up. "I'll be back in ten." He was Hell bent on getting Jimmy's side… and not hearing it out.

"Tony, no. Sit, damn it. He and I are fine. He didn't say or do anything. It's you and me who need to talk…"

Tony stopped and sat down, interested. What was she getting at? Get back together? No way. She was now completely out of her mind. Was she lying about the ransom note? Did they see the kid with him and want something from him? The questions piled up, and the answers scared him to death. "What's up?"

"I… haven't been completely straight with you."

Tony blinked. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Jessica paused, squeezed her eyes shut, moved her head down, exhaled, then looked back up. "…Sam's not Jimmy's, Tony. He's yours."

Tony laughed once, then his entire demeanor dropped, much like hers had before. "…What?" He forced out.

Jessica tossed her hands up. "I don't know how else to tell you other than flat out. Sam's as much your son as he is mine."

Tony let out a breath he didn't even realize he was holding. "But Jimmy-"

"Is an old friend from college who wanted to act the part until I got up the gall to tell you."

"So is he really an-"

"Asshole? No. Just an act. Testing how you guys would be with me. He's just like that."

"But he was yelling at you before-"

"Because he wasn't thrilled I didn't tell you already, especially after this happened." She replied.

Tony opened his mouth then shut it. He shifted on the couch to try and find a more comfortable position, or at least one that would help what he had just heard make sense, but none came. Not only that, but he went to far and ended up sliding off the couch. He climbed back up. "So what stopped you from telling me earlier?" He had no clue how or why he was taking this in strides. He was a father? Sam was Little DiNozzo? What the Hell? _React more, damn you!_

"That would've gone over well. 'Oh, hi, Tony! Remember me, your ex girlfriend who you cheatedon five years ago? By the way, this kid here is conviently four, meaning he's yours! We have some catching up to do, huh?'" She frowned at him.

He paused. "Yeah… I see your point." With the new revelation, he wanted to kick himself. It had been five years since the breakup, not the six he thought. Sam's age should've been a heads up. "I… uh…"

Jessica nodded. "If you want to think it over, fine. I just dumped it on you and I know you're screaming on the inside. Go on, leave for a while, think it over, whatever you need to do."

Tony nodded rapidly, got up and headed for the door. He winced and turned back around and went back to her. "You sure you're gonna be okay on-"

"Tony, it's your call."

Tony nodded, slowly this time, then hugged her upper-half rather awkwardly and loosely before leaving. There was only one person he knew he could go to with information like that,

"Sam's my son!" Tony blurted, walking right into Gibbs' office a few seconds later.

His boss looked at him, blinked a couple of times, then looked back down at the papers he had in front of him. "She finally told you, huh?"

Tony went pale and yanked over the opposite chair, practically throwing himself on it. "You knew? She told you?"

Gibbs laughed. "No, DiNozzo."

"Then how…?"

"I looked at the kid." Gibbs replied, then smirked, catching the purely confused look the man wore. "The kid has your eyes, ears, and what was definitely your personality as a kid. I knew the second I saw him he was yours. Hell, that's why when he got grabbed and Jess told me that he was yours I wasn't surprised."

"So she did…" Tony hesitated, then frowned. "No… you asked if he was, she said yes… that's why she looked guilty."

Gibbs nodded. "Funny how you worked that out fast. You usually pick things up fast."

"Well, excuse me if I just got the biggest news of my life, so I'm a little distracted!" Tony hissed.

After a knock on the door, Tim joined the three. "Uh, boss, Tony? We uh… got another videotape… it's still not going good."

It was at that moment that Tony keeled over. He was unconscious before he hit the floor.

Tim's eyes widened. "Uh… Tony?" He looked at Gibbs for an explaination.

"Jess just told him Sam's his son."

"Ah… ... wait- what?"

* * *

**A/N: Yay for the most obvious part of the fic. Review! I could use feedback.**


	11. Reason to Snap

**A/N: This chap's really short, haha, sorry. Time constraints.**

* * *

"Jessica… Jessica, my dear. Are you awake?"

Jessica bolted upright, waking up, ten yelped when her head connected with one of the desks of the evidence lab she had been under. So much for Tony's suggestion. It was comfortable until you were woken up by someone and they scared you half to death. She only registered one hiss of sympathetic pain. She looked up, seeing Ducky looking down at her, concerned. "Ducky. Um… hi…"

Ducky nodded. "Jessica. Sorry to wake you… and cause that, but I figured wake you because you have a visitor." He motioned over his shoulder.

Jessica sat up and looked in the direction he indicated, and just like that, the events of the week so far came slamming back into her head. Her visitor was the oldest of the Lennox kids- Mal. He looked like what she guessed Sam would in twenty or so years- he had wavy dark blonde hair, combed back and trimmed neatly, and blue eyes with the slightest green tint. A weak smile that would make even a stranger want to hug him out of sympathy graced his face at that moment. She let out a whimper and practically flew into his arms.

Mal pulled her closer and tightened his grip around her, tucking his chin into the crook of her neck. "It's okay. It's okay. I'm sorry I wasn't here sooner. You know how Russ can be with letting us get out of work."

Jessica let out a choked laugh through the tears that had already formed. "I know he loves Sammy, that's about it. I knew he'd let you come, even if he made you work a couple of more days. " She refused to let him go. He didn't mind.

"Exactly" Mal moved his chin only to swallow, before putting it right back where it had been.

"Hey, Abs, is Jess… oh."

The siblings finally pulled away, only slightly, to see Tony leaning into the doorway, now looking at them. "Hi…. Mal."

"DiNozzo." Mal deadpanned, just as the agent had.

Tony nodded slowly and pressed his lips into a thin line. "Right, um… I'd come back, but… this can't wait."

"No. Don't let me interrupt you. What were you going to tell Jess?" Mal asked.

Tony opened his mouth, then shut it. He knew the man who punched him in the eye and nose, leaving week-lasting black and blues wouldn't believe him. Or in this situation, would he? He opened his mouth, then shut it. How could he tell her? Hell, he could barely say it. "They uh…police… they found a body of a kid… the description matches Sam's…they want you over at the next coroner's office to… make a… possible I.D." He flinced, practically seeing Jessica's world come crashing down. Hell, there was a possibility it wasn't their Sammy, but hearing that… wasn't tolerable at all.

Jessica's knees buckled slightly, and she would've hit the ground hard if Mal hadn't latched onto her to hold her up.

Tony forced himself to meet her eyes. He saw that coming. "There's a chance… there's always a chance it's not him."

The three men waited for her mind to come back to her. After moments that seemed like hours, Jessica found her voice. "Better to find out sooner than later, then." She swallowed hard. "C-c-can both of you come with me? Please?" She looked at Ducky. "Is that possible? Two people with me?"

Ducky opened his mouth slowly. Even he looked hurt by the news. "It happens on the rare occasion, but… maybe I can call in a favor.

"Thank you, Ducky." Jessica replied, hugging herself and looking around.

"Why me?" Tony asked after a moment.

"Because you've been… different this whole time… I appreciate that… and you are his dad, after all."

Mal looked up. "You told him?"

Tony shot him a look. "Now's not the best time, is it?"

Mal looked at him, then frowned. "…Right."

Tony nodded. "I'll drive, then. Let's go."

The car ride was slow torture for all of them. What should've seemed like a short ride seemed to go on for days and days. Barely any conversation was made, except for Tony and Mal saying "It's not him" every so often. The only thing Jessica did was yell at them for saying something that may not end up being true in the end. The men shrank back, and that was that. When they arrived, the coroner merely glanced at Tony and Mal before his eyes set on Jessica, and never left her when he explained what she had to do, what her guidelines were, and told her to prepare herself.

The tone the coroner used caused Mal and Tony to want to punch him, but they fought the urge back. Hell, as the agent said earlier, it wasn't the time.

And so they went inside, and the cold air of the room made the situation even worse.

The coroner led them to one of the walls, and pulled out one of the compartments.

Upon seeing the body in the black case, tensions skyrocketed even more, even if it seemed impossible.

The coroner waited for her to nod, but she didn't for some time. She just stared at the sight to behold for a while.

After a few moments of weighing the negatives and positives, Tony reached down and took her hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

Jessica looked at him and he looked from her to Mal and back. She figured it was his way of saying 'we're here for you' or 'you've got us for support'. She looked at the coroner and nodded.

The coroner nodded in return and unzipped the bag, painfully slowly. Tony gritted his teeth when Jessica's nails dug into his hand. He sighed and just shifted his hands so it wasn't as rough. He'd have to deal with it. Today was the exception- These few seconds were the exception. When he realized the coroner still hadn't unzipped the bag fully, he snapped himself. "Hey, pal. You do this with everyone? I'm surprised you haven't gotten fired! You think we wanna stand here waiting to see what could end up being one of the worst sights in the world? Come on!"

The coroner looked at him, clenched his jaw, and went just slightly faster. After he was finally done, he gave the three one final look before pulling back the sides and showing the face of the body inside.


	12. You Love It

**A/N: Sorry it's been so long. I lost the file for this chap because my laptop's hard drive crashed and then I've just been busy, busy and busy again. Urgh. The chapter is kinda filler, kinda not... moving on. I don't own NCIS, blah blah blah. **

**

* * *

**

_Would you cry, if you saw me crying?_

_And would you save my soul, tonight?_

_Am I in too deep? Have I lost my mind?_

_I don't care you're here, tonight_

_-Hero, Enrique Iglesias_

_

* * *

_

Jessica let out a half yelp, half sigh and her knees buckled again. Mal caught her and held her close, leaving Tony to answer the question the coroner was silently asking.

"It's… it's not him. That's not our Sammy." Tony told the coroner, trying to get his breathing back to normal, being that it had stopped completely when the other man had pulled back the sheet. He couldn't imagine what he would've done had the boy been Sam. However, seeing the small boy on the table that looked exactly like him took his breath away, and clearly not in a good way. He took the tarp and put it back over the boy. He wasn't going to wait for the coroner. He ran his hand over his face before looking back at the coroner, who looked totally- pun not intended, mortified.

"Oh, I'm-I'm-uh, sorry. So sorry." The man covered up the body again and blushed furiously.

Tony nodded. "Don't worry about it. As bad as this sounds, it's kind of… relieving, seeing the kid and it's not Sam."

The other man nodded. "I completely understand. You can't imagine how embarrassing this is for me, though."

Jessica finally looked at him and nodded, trying to collect herself. "Like he said, it's… … okay in a sick, twisted way." She sighed. "Can we leave now?"

The coroner rapidly nodded his head, still muttering apologies and anything else he deemed necessary to not look like an ignorant fool to them, then moved so they could get out. The three of them made a quick exit out of the building.

Upon getting out, Mal pulled his sister into a hug before she even showed any signs of crying, which started up right when she was in his arms. "It's okay. It might mean Sam's still missing, but that also means there's a chance he's still… alive." Mal flinched at the words, but they seemed to relax his sister all the same. "We're gonna get him back soon."

Tony looked down. He wasn't heartless, so he refused to split up the family moment, but he desperately wanted to get away from the morgue. Sure, he could handle Ducky's morgue at any time during any situation, but others were so foreign and horrible that he always had a hidden fear of them. "So… where to?"

"I just… I wanna go home, Tone." Jessica replied.

Tony nodded, then looked at Mal. "You coming home with us or do you have anything else to do?"

Mal sighed. "I have to get back home. Erica's sick and in no shape to take care of a five year old alone any longer than she has already now." He looked at his sister. "Sorry, Jessie."

"No, no. It's okay. You go take care of your daughter. I'll be fine." She replied. "Where are you staying?"

"The Hyatt by the capitol building." Mal leaned back in his seat.

Jessica glanced at Tony, who was already in the middle of setting the car up to make a U-turn to get to the fastest route towards the mentioned hotel. They reached the hotel a few minutes later, and Mal reluctantly got out. They drove back to Jessica's house, and the woman rolled her eyes when Tony walked into the house behind her. "Tony, really. I'm fine on my own. I wasn't kidding before."

"Shush. Neither was I. Do I think you're gonna do 'something stupid'? No. As a matter of fact, I know you're not that… well, stupid. I just don't like you being alone in this situation. You never did well during bad situations when we were dating, and I doubt that's changed over the years. I'm not leaving you on your own here." He closed the door behind him, then glanced out the window. He frowned. "Oh, you gotta be kidding me…"

Jessica turned. "What?"

"News crews are coming, and I highly doubt they're coming to see your neighbor's too-big-for-his-front-yard garden." Tony replied, drawing the curtains and making sure the door was locked. "You ready for that yet?" He asked.

"No. Hell no." Jessica replied.

Tony nodded. "Then get ready to want to rip your doorbell off the wall." He replied, then looked through the little space left between the window and curtain. "How'd they find out?"

"They always do somehow." Jessica sighed.

Tony grunted. "How reliable is your friend Jimmy?"

"He loves Sam, Tony. He wouldn't sell us out if there was a chance publicity could get him or I hurt."

Tony sighed, then groaned when there was a knock at the door. "So it begins." He looked at her. "You sit tight. I'll take care of them."

"Really?" Jessica blinked.

"It's the least I can do. Just be wary of walking in front of the door where they can see you." Tony replied.

Jessica nodded and settled further back into the couch.

Tony headed out the door and closed it right behind him as he went. Jessica strained to hear what he had to say. He started off strong, complaining that they were being vultures, preying on a worried mother in a bad situation, ivading privacy. He was pulling out all the stops. She had to laugh when his own thoughts on the issue were woven in with seemingly-appropriate movie monologues. Luckily none of the reporters seemed to catch on. A fe more minutes later, Tony came back in. "What'd I tell ya? I got rid of them."

"And I can't thank you enough. What happened? Did you weird them out?"

"Eh, that's part of it." Tony replied, and the two chuckled. He walked over to the couch and tapped her feet to indicate for her to move them. She did, and he sat down before pulling her feet into his lap. They sat in what they were surprised to find was a comfortable silence for a while. After that, Tony looked at Jessica. "Look, Jess, I doubt you want to talk about it now of all times, but… tell me about Sammy. What have I missed?"

Jessica chuckled. "I knew that was coming…"

Tony frowned. "Forgot I asked, then. You don't wanna tell me. I understand."

Jessica shook her head and touches his hand. "No, Tony. I do. It's fine. You deserve it to say the least. Just… tell me what you want to know."

"I don't know- godparents? What kindergarten you're looking at for him… favorite food, book, stuffed animal… uncle or aunt… just… what was he like growing up? What did I miss out on?"

"Well, Jimmy's actually his godfather, and then if you remember Mary, that's his godmother. I haven't even thought of kindergartens yet. He takes after you with food- if it's Italian, it's his favorite. His favorite book's Comet's Nine Lives, just because his grandparents are from there… and he practically taught himself to read with that."

"He knows how to read already? Geez." Tony shook his head.

Jessica laughed and nodded. "Yeah. You should've seen his face when he finished two whole pages. His whole face just lit up and got this look in his eyes…" her own face lit up when she looked up at Tony and he was smiling back at her. "The exact look that you have right now."

Tony laughed. "Then he's the perfect child already. You outdid yourself, Gorgeous."

Jessica smiled, then shrugged. "What can I say. I was a good mom… until now."

Tony's own smile dropped into a deep frown. "Don't you dare start saying that. You are not that kind of person. You're a great mom. You know how many kids would kill to have a mom like you? Just because some bastard decided to use him as leverage does not make you a bad mom. it's against him, not you. We've been over this. I guarantee Sam's alive- I won't say unharmed- but he's alive because he has you and you taught him to be one tough kid. Do you understand me? You are not to blame. Say it with me- you. Are. Not. To. Blame." He said, with Jess joining in half-heartedly with the last three words. Tony squeezed her shoulder. "Really, you're not. Come here." He moved his hand up to the top of her head and tilted it down. He kissed her forehead. "I don't wanna ever hear that from you again. I will get Gibbs to do one of his speeches to make you see it's not your fault."

Jessica laughed weakly. "Fine." She moved back slightly, then scooted closer to him and put her head on his shoulder. "How many times am I gonna have to thank you?"

"Lots. You might wanna start writing all of the times down." Tony replied, which earned him a light punch to his side. "What? You asked."

"Jerk," Jessica countered.

Tony chuckled. "You love it, don't lie."

Jessica yawned. "Keep believing that, Tone."

"I will." Tony smirked, then patted her thigh. "You look tired and you clearly need sleep. Get some." He instructed her.

Jessica made a small, quiet sound of protest before she huddled closer to his shoulder and straightened out back on the couch.

Tony arched an eyebrow. He meant for her to get up and go to her room, not use him as a pillow. He wasn't going to complain, though. She deserved some sleep after the roller coaster she had been on. He slouched a bit so it would be more comfortable for the both of them. He waited to hear her breathing get slow, and before he knew it, he was out cold himself.

The next morning, Tony woke to the feel of his phone vibrating. He let out a groan and picked up. "DiNozzo,"

"How's Jess?"

Tony flinched. "Hi, boss. I'm fine."

"Is Jess?" Gibbs asked.

Tony glanced to his side and frowned, seeing she was gone. "She's fine."

"So you did stay with her?"

"Yeah. I wouldn't blow off work for no reason, boss." Tony replied.

"I know. I'm just worried about her. Who woulda thought I'd ever be happy you were there for someone."

Tony clenched his jaw. "Is there any reason you called other than check on Jess?"

"Easy, Tony. Yes, there is… we might've found the guy who did the kidnapping. Not sure if he's one in the same as the guy who did the ransom note- he could've been hired help. Don't know yet. I wanna see if we can get Jess up here to see if she recognizes him by some stretch."

Tony glanced around, then pulled the phone away from his face. "Jess?" he called.

"Kitchen," came her reply. "That Gibbs on the phone?"

Tony nodded. "They have a bunch of suspects from… our issue with the case." Tony replied. "They're setting up a lineup." He explained.

Jessica turned, heading for the closet with her jackets. "When're they gonna have it ready?"

Tony put the phone back to his ear. "Boss? When is it-"

"I heard her. It'll be set in half an hour." Gibbs reported.

"We'll be there in fifteen." Tony replied, then hung up before Gibbs could add anything. "I'll drive." He headed for the door, then stopped and turned. "Any chance we can go to your parents place and get the-"

"You are not getting anywhere close to the Ferrari." Jessica replied.

Tony pouted, then turned again and opened the door, letting her lead the way to her car. They made their way to the NCIS building and met Gibbs in the elevator. The older man briefed them on how they had found the people, then went to the general questions on how Jessica was holding up. The three of them weaved their way into the room where they could look in on the lineup that police officers were putting several men in. After the parties on both side of the mirrored wall were settled, Gibbs began the questions on whether or not any of them looked familiar. To everyone's annoyance, none of them fit the bill. That was, until one of the men turned just right to jog Tony's memory from chasing after the car that had taken Sam away. "Hold on, Boss. Have number four come up."

Gibbs glanced at him. "You've seen him before?"

"Think so. Everyone else can go. Jess, what do you have to say?"

"Can't say I've seen any of them, but you're the one who chased after the car. You would know better than I would. I didn't see much."

Gibbs nodded, then pressed the intercom button. "Number four, step forward and turn around."

The suspect rolled his eyes, stepped forward, and turned in a three-sixty.

Gibbs and Jessica looked at Tony, who nodded. "That's the S.O.B who was driving…" the younger agent announced. Gibbs nodded, then motioned for them to leave.

"What? Boss, no. We have to stay for this." Tony objected.

Gibbs shook his head. "Can't let you do that, Tony; You or Jess. Like I said before, it's conflict of interests completely now. You guys are off this case. Keeping you two posted could start a whole lot of issues, so consider yourselves lucky I'm going to do it."

Tony frowned. "Boss, you have to-"

Jessica shook her head. "No, Tone, it's fine. Really. I don't want anyone to get in trouble. This whole thing is bad enough without jobs being on the line…" She trailed off. "Where's Leon with this whole thing?" she asked.

"This whole thing is top propriety because of Sam. He might've seemed like Sam's kidnapping was just another in the few that happen a day, but he's a father, too. He's going after this case with a vengeance. Once we get more information on what this guy's all about, whether it's from this suspect or not, he will bury the people responsible."

Jessica nodded. "Yes sir. I have no doubt. I just…"

Gibbs gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "I know. It's okay. Hey, I was a father, too."

She offered a half apologetic, half thankful smile, then nodded.

Gibbs pushed off of her. "You'll be the first to know, I promise. Most of us seem to think this was Grayson trying to come up with one Hell of a distraction to get us off of him, if that helps you."

Jessica shrugged. "It does a bit, I guess."

Gibbs nodded. "Alright, you two. That's all I needed to hear from you. Get going before the wrong person sees you and starts spreading the word."

Jessica smiled weakly. "You got it. Thanks, Gibbs. Really."

Gibbs nodded again. "We've been over this. It's fine." He walked them to the elevator, then went on his own way. Once the two of them got settled back into their car, Tony sighed. "Well, that was a waste of gas…." he muttered as he started to drive.

Jessica shrugged. "It could've been worse. You couldn't have recognized the guy in the lineup."

"Yeah, but now we have to wait." Tony complained. "The waiting is the worst part."

"Well, that's a gimme." Jessica replied.

Tony shrugged. "True," He looked around. "You wanna stop for dinner or anything?"

"No, thanks. I just really wanna go home."

Tony nodded. "Can't blame you. Alright, home it is."

The rest of the ride passed in comfortable silence until they reached her street. Jessica looked around. "Christ, no news vans. What exactly did you tell them?"

Tony shrugged. "Gave them a bunch of useless information from old cases and changed the names around. They'll be chasing ghosts for a while."

Jessica smiled, then shook her head. "You're ridiculous."

"You love it." Tony repeated his phrase from earlier, leading her inside the house once they made it. He leaned on the wall beside the front door when she fished for her keys. "You sure you're okay? I can call for takeout or cook something."

"I made the mistake of trusting your cooking once, Tony. I'm not making it again." She replied before opening the door and ushering him inside.

"Aww, come on. It's been five years." Tony objected.

"No," Jessica repeated.

"What was so bad about it?" Tony laughed.

"Tony, you're Italian and you managed to burn pasta, sausage and sauce. That shouldn't happen- at least the pasta should've been okay."

"It's not my fault my stove sucked." Tony replied. "Fine, no food. Are you just gonna pass out on me again otherwise?"

"No… not yet at least." Jessica replied. "I'm just getting changed and I'm probably gonna put in a movie or something."

"Wow. That sounds even more boring than McGoo's weekends. Go do what you have to do. Don't think of running off."

"Wouldn't dare." Jessica replied before heading upstairs.

Tony turned back to the kitchen. "I always did like proving her wrong…"

"Start cooking when I'm up here just to one up me and I'm kicking you out!" Jessica called from the landing.

Tony rolled his eyes. "Fine!" He called, then collapsed on the couch. He turned on the television and started channel surfing. He glanced up when she came back down, glaring at the television as she did so. "What'd I do?"

"Nothing. It's just… I keep worrying that I'm gonna come across some news report about Sammy, and what would happen to him if whoever has him saw it. I mean, he said no law enforcement involvement, but media would be worse, and…"

Tony scooted closer to her, then took her hands in his. "Jess, we've been over this. I understand, I do. Right now I wouldn't worry about it, you got me? If the reporters are even gonna get close to the story, it'll be days. The only news coverage that Sammy's gonna get is some 'missing' two second post during a commercial break on the news."

"Like that?" Jessica nodded at the television.

Tony glanced at the screen, seeing exactly what he had described a moment ago and grabbed the remote. He jammed his finger into the power button. "That better?"

"Little bit…" Jessica sighed, then curled up more. "… I can't catch a break, can I? I have a couple of moments of peace, then it comes back like a slap in the face."

Tony shrugged. "It's kinda expected, isn't it?" He flinched. "I didn't mean that so catty, I swear."

Jessica shook her head. "It's okay…"

Tony frowned, then flicked her hair lightly. "Jess, things are gonna look up for you- for everything with this. I promise you that."

Jessica laughed weakly. "Why, after everything, are you still being so good to me, Tone?"

Tony chuckled. "We've been over this too, Jess. You deserve it, and it's the least I can do." Tony replied. He looked down. "And there's a part of me that doesn't want to let you down... again, even if the first time was a misunderstanding."

Jessica smiled lazily, then ran her fingers through the front of his hair. She didn't know what possessed her, but a moment later, she pressed her lips to his. When her brain seemed to catch up with her body, she still made no move of pulling away, but she half expected Tony to do so. To her surprise, he merely pulled her closer and deepened it. After a few moments, Jessica ended up in Tony's lap, and the two finally came up for air.

Jessica sighed, pressing her forehead to his. "Tony, I…"

"Jess, apologize and I might smack you. If you haven't noticed, that wasn't quite one sided." Tony replied, moving his hands to her hips.

"I… I just…" Jessica began. "I need…"

Tony kissed her. "I know, Jess. Let me take care of you. If we need to talk about it afterwards, save it for the morning." He replied, then kissed her again, and she just about melted right into him. He repositioned her again, and stood up, picking her up in the process. She had no further protest, and he took it as a cue to head for the guest room. No sense in going upstairs. Did he really know what she was going to say she needed? No, but there were a handful of things it could've been, and he couldn't argue with any of them. If it wasn't one of those possibilities, well, he was willing to let being wrong slip, just for that night.

* * *

**A/N: Hope that made up for the wait. Just as a random sidenote, if you're ever looking for good kids' books, ****Comet's Nine Lives**** that was mentioned in here really is a good one. I used my own little true story in there because that was the first book I ever read aloud with no troubles. Anyways, hope you enjoyed. Don't forget to press that button and tell me what you thought. You know you want to. **


	13. Not Again

The next morning, Tony woke to his cell phone ringing. He groaned and dragged himself out of bed, casting Jessica a sideways glance as he did so. She still hadn't changed from being a heavy sleeper all these years. Either that, or he just wore her out completely the last night. A smile tugged at his lips. He liked the latter option. He reached for his jeans and dug his phone out, too tired to check the caller I.D . "DiNozzo…"

"We might have the guy who has Sam. No false alarm this time."

Gibbs' voice and message was one Hell of a wake-up call for the younger man. "What?" He demanded, tucking his phone into his neck in order to yank his jeans back on. "How? Where?" He sat back down on the bed and shook Jessica's shoulder. "Jess…" He hissed- no luck. "Jess!" He tried, louder this time.

"Jess is with you at eight in the morning?"

Tony opened his mouth to reply, and could almost see Gibbs smirking knowingly on the other end. "… Not important, Boss. Talk to me." He spotted another possible solution for Jessica. One of Sam's teddy bears were on the chair in the corner of the room. He went over, grabbed it, and threw it at her, hitting her shoulder. Jessica stirred, but still made no other sign of waking up. Tony gawked. "Are you…?" He went back, grabbed the bear and whacked her lightly with it. Now that worked, and she jolted awake. She looked around for a minute, then glared at him. The glare dropped when she saw Tony frowning at her, phone in hand. "Is Sam…?"

He moved the phone so she could get in next to him and hear. "Go again, Boss."

"We're about ninety five percent sure that we have the guy who has Sam. There was a case in Baltimore, same M.O. The guy took a cop's kid and left the same message, too. His name's Phil Hoffman-"

"Wait, you mean it's that guy we thought was a serial killer from before Jess got here, and not one of the newer guys?"

"Yeah. Who woulda thought. Point is, we got 'em… a location and everything, too. As much as getting Trent back helped us out around the office, he's no use on a manhunt. His words, Jess, not mine."

"Don't worry about it. What's the problem?"

"We need Tony back. Leon's giving us a lotta leeway with this one, too. Even he has a soft spot for the kid and wants him back no matter what."

Tony and Jess exchanged glances, then Tony sighed. "When do you want me to come in, Boss?"

"Soon as you can. We're seeing if anyone in the surrounding area's seen anything. If not, we're gonna go to… the place and storm it…"

After a couple of moments of silence, Jessica rolled her eyes. "I get it. I'm leaving, Gibbs. I promise." She got up and shrugged when Tony sent her a sympathetic look. She got up, got her clothes and headed for the door, closing it behind her. She pulled her clothes on and settled for pacing in the kitchen. When her two dogs came to investigate, she merely pet them and shooed them off. The three minutes it took felt like hours. Tony came out of the room and went over to her. "So… yeah… gotta go. Your brother's on his way to get me."

"I know. Like I said before, just bring my little boy back… our little boy."

"I will. I told you that. I'll call if we hear anything new, good news or bad." Tony murmured. "Look… if you wanna talk about last night, just… we will after this. I have someone you need to meet face to face anyway, just… not now."

"I don't wanna talk because I don't regret it, but okay." Jessica nodded.

Tony smiled weakly, then cupped her face in his hands and kissed her forehead, then lips. "Knowing Gibbs, Trent's probably outside already…"

"I know. Go. Just keep me posted."

"Will do," Tony winked at her, then headed out the door. Sure enough, he had just made it off the front stoop when Trent drove up. By the time he made it to the sidewalk, Trent had already reached over and opened the co-passenger door. "Hey,"

Trent nodded a greeting, then looked over the man in his wrinkled clothes before shrugging and starting to drive off.

Tony arched an eyebrow at him. "No comment at all? That's not like you."

Trent shrugged. "You've been good to her lately. That's all that matters as far as I'm concerned. I'll still kill you if you hurt her… again."

"The last time was a misunderstanding, and this time… this time I don't plan to."

"Good enough for me." Trent replied.

The rest of the ride passed in silence. They made it into the NCIS building and up to their floor. The two men barely made it two feet out of the elevator when Abby came charging over. "Tony! Trent!"

While Abby only gave Tony a quick hug, Abby just about latched onto Trent with no sign of letting go. "Trent! I missed you! Are you okay? I promise we're gonna get Little Sammy back. How's your leg? Am I hurting you?"

"I'm fine, Abs, but I need to breathe. How've ya been?" Trent asked.

"I've been okay but I've been feeling you and your sib's pain. I can't imagine what you must be feeling right now." Abby replied.

"None of us can."

The three turned when they heard Gibbs, and the man was on his way over. "Trent," he greeted, tossing the man an object.

It took Trent a moment to realize it was his badge. "I thought you told me I wasn't going into the-"

"You're not, but if worse comes to worse and you need to come to the scene, it's your ticket in." Gibbs replied. "Welcome back. DiNozzo, let's go."

"Yep. On it, Boss."

Trent watched them go, then glanced down when he felt Abby tug on his hand. "Where to?"

"The lab to make sure this guy doesn't run off too much. I could use your eyes. I could also use some cross checking with the ransome notes- see if any of the glued letters match up. Make sure this one isn't a copycat who's about to get murdered for kidnapping Sammy instead of just arrested for kidnapping some random kid and hoping it looked like the first guy." Abby replied, then flexed her fingers above the keyboard. A moment later, she typed in a command, and a satellite view map popped up onscreen. A few more prompts later and it zoomed in on what looked like some old factory. A pipe jutting out a couple of feet to the Patomic River was on the outskirts of the property.

"Why does it always have to be warehouses…?" Abby asked, attempting to lighten the mood that had gotten miserable quickly.

Trent, however, didn't see the humor. "Because that's how most human trafficking rings work…" He deadpanned.

Abby frowned before tossing her arms around his neck and putting her head on his shoulder. "We're gonna get him back, Trent."

"What if it's too late?" Trent muttered before flinching.

Abby hugged him tighter. "It won't be. We have Tony and Gibbs, remember? They'll get Sammy."

The moment was ruined when the computer screen, along with the handful of others in the room suddenly went black, then blue. White text suddenly appeared on the blue screen. Abby recognized what Tim referred to as 'The Blue Screen of Death' and let out a shout of protest. "No! No, no, no!" She started to type rapidly.

Trent, whose heart had just about dropped as far as it could, frowned. "What's going on?"

"Somebody passed all our firewalls and just… shut everything down!" Abby replied off-handedly, still trying to solve the problem. "MCGEE! MCGEE!" She called.

Trent ran his hands through his hair. "You think this is… whoever has Sam's doing?"

Abby stopped for a moment and turned to him. "If I tell you yes… are you gonna need another hug?"

Trent stared at her, then stumbled back to sit in the computer chair. "Oh God… Oh God. Why did Gibbs make me come back? I can't… I can't do this now…"

Abby went to hug him again, then stopped when she saw Tim start making his way to the lab. "We just got bombed, McGee!"

Tim went pale, then looked out the window. "What?"

Abby shook her head. "Not that way, this way!" She shoved him over to the computer she was by, then pulled out her cell phone, hitting one on her speed dial. She didn't wait long for the person to pick up. "Gibbs! We have a problem. I think the guy who has Sammy and the other kid are-"

"He is, Abs…"

Abby frowned. "…How do you know?"

"Because he just called me, Abs. He said he knew we were close now…"

Abby glanced at Trent, then left the lab. "… Did he say anything about Sammy?"

Gibbs paused for a moment. "Apparently he was 'being gracious'- apparently he gave us one strike… and tracking his location was it."

Abby's heart sunk now. "… I'm sorry, Gibbs…"

"Rule Six, Abs."

"But Sammy could be getting hurt…"

"Fine. Don't apologize yet, then. We don't know he's hurt. Pass on the message to get a couple of officers to guard Jess' house, too. I'm not taking chances."

"Got it,"

Gibbs hung up when he heard Abby's line click off. He tossed the phone into his cup holder, but remained silent.

"What's the problem over there? Why did she have to apologize?" Tony asked.

" Because the guy found out we were tracking him. He probably hacked into our system somehow and saw the trace. Now we know where we're headed, but he might have closed up shop there and headed for the hills… with Sam or without." Gibbs replied.

Tony frowned, then nodded. He felt his phone vibrate. He picked it up. For some reason, he didn't like the look of '1 New Text' when all of this was going down. Sure enough, he had good reason to.

**Jess 8:45 AM 10/14/11**

**I think som1s watching the house. Not like unmarked car Ive seen. Don't wanna type much in case. U send anyone?**

Tony flinched. "Boss… you just gave the order to send protection her way, right? I mean, you weren't just confirming that they should go?"

"No. Why?" Gibbs asked.

Tony showed him the message before dialing her number. "Jess, talk to me. What the Hell is going on?"

"I don't know. This car's just been… hanging around outside, and… look. I don't think talking on the phone is the best idea if this is… wait a second someone's…. Oh SHIT that is a gun. Shit, shit, shit!"

Tony paled and pressed the phone closer to his ear. "Jess? Jess!" He heard the phone hit something solid, then rushed footsteps. "JESS!" He repeated. Still nothing. It was silent for a few seconds, worrying Tony to no end. The agent's heart just about stopped when he heard two gunshots on the other end, but no other noise. He pulled the phone away with a shaking hand, then looked at Gibbs. "Put a rush on those cops, turn around, or let me out of this car right now."

Gibbs, knowing that the situation had to be dire for Tony to use that tone of voice. "What happened?"

Tony's heart seemed to realize it was supposed to beat again at that moment. "Either Jess has been shot, killed, there's a chase going on at her house, or there's gonna be someone injured who was sent to harm her or take her, or… I don't know, just pick one of those. If we're turning around, feel free to drive the way you usually do."

Gibbs hesitated, then a moment later, Tony felt himself lurch to the side as the man made the car to a sharp one-eighty. "No point in following this lead if we think it's gonna be gone. Keep Jess' line open just in case. Use my phone, get a couple of agents at Jess' place, see if Abby or someone got a handle on the They should be there by the time we are."

Tony grunted in agreement. The rest of the ride passed in silence with growing tension. Tony all but jumped out of the car when they reached Jess' block and made it within two doors of her own. Gibbs wasn't far behind. The younger man's heart sunk more when he saw her door was kicked in. "No… no, no, no. Of all the days…" He frowned when he heard barking coming from the backyard. "The dogs…" _What were their names again? Eva… Butch. There we go. _He called their names, and the barking only ceased for a second before it started up again. Tony went over to the fence and opened it, bracing himself for getting tackled by the German Shepherd and Yellow Lab he just knew was coming.

Sure enough, the two dogs barked and growled at first, but upon recognizing the man, backed off. They spotted Gibbs and whined before darting towards the front door, and inside.

Tony chased after them, slowing down when he reached the entryway. He drew his weapon and started sidling along the wall. When he saw Gibbs come in and go the other way after nodding to him, he went on his way. The living room and kitchen were wrecks. Chairs were down, and papers and other objects were scattered around. He dodged most of it, then went over to the window where he figured Jessica could've seen the oncoming people. He spotted her cell phone, tossed in the corner behind her loveseat- where no one would think to look for it. "Let's see what you got, Jess…" He got the tablecloth on the table beside it and wrapped it up, shoving it in his pocket. He continued on his way, praying that he didn't come across any bodies- hers, anyway. If it was her attackers, he wouldn't be so worried. He continued around the floor, frowning when he saw blood on one of the walls in the hallway. It wasn't much at all, but the point was it was there. He moved on, checking the upper floors. No more blood, but no bodied, either. He went back downstairs, to find Gibbs had similar luck, minus the blood. Tony flinched and left the house, sitting on the stoop. The memory of last time he had been sitting there slammed into his head- it was the same scenario- one person was just absent- and happened to be the victim this time around.

_After all we've been through… we came so far, and now…_ He groaned and buried his face in his hands. _This can't be happening_. Two generations, taken by the same person. Hell, his _ex-girlfriend_,_ Hell, whatever they were now_, and _son_ taken by the same person. He frowned when Butch and Eva came up behind him, whining. He turned to them and as a last resort, checked their teeth and claws. Nothing stuck out to him. He sighed and scratched them behind the ears. "We're gonna get them back… you guys can stay with me 'til we do. You don't hate me anymore, do you?" He smiled despite his other thoughts when Butch growled low in his throat as if protesting to not hating the man. "We'll work on it." He replied. He glanced up when Gibbs clapped a reassuring hand on his shoulder. The pair of them heard sirens in the distance. "So now what, Boss?"

"We dig this bastard a grave because there's no way he's getting out of this after we find him, that's what."

Tony looked over at the squad car that pulled onto the block, then sighed. The only time he had approved of that plan as much as he did was when they were dealing with Ari. He didn't mind, either.


	14. Tick Tock

**A/N: Sorry for the wait. This last school semester kicked my ass. Hope this makes up for it. **

* * *

Gibbs looked over the roof of his car at Tony, who had stopped in his tracks and pressed his forehead to the roof right when they had both reached the car. He sighed. There weren't many reasons for the man to have done that in this situation. "_Tony_, we'll find them…"

Tony flinched at the way Gibbs used his first name- when he did, he was always trying to bring seriousness to whatever was being said. He was pretty damn aware of how serious the situation was. Then again, it sounded more concerned than insistent for the first time. He looked away and shook his head. "And what if we don't, Boss? What if we find their bodies? I can't- I just found one again, and found out the other one- my son existed… I can't…" He looked away and shook his head.

Gibbs frowned. "You don't have to come on this leg. We can just keep you-"

"Yes… I do." Tony cut him off. He sighed. "It's the least I can do after all this."

Gibbs nodded slowly, then straightened out. He hated being the one to point it out, and Tony had just voiced the possibility knew, but there was one thing he needed to hear. "Tony… there will be the possibility that you mentioned. What will happen then? I wouldn't blame you, but… I can't have you breaking when it happens." Gibbs leaned over, making sure Tony looked at him. "I don't want to see that- and I'm saying that as a friend and not your superior. You break, we all break with you."

Tony's stomach clenched at the man's words again, then looked around. "… With all due respect, Boss, we're burning daylight, here…"

Gibbs' frown deepened at Tony's shutdown, but he opened the door and got in the car. Tony followed suit.

The half-hour ride that followed passed went by in complete silence. Every so often, Gibbs glanced at Tony to find the man looked like he was getting more and more distant by the moment. He swerved a couple of times to test the man, and Tony barely so much as flinched. The younger man just kept staring ahead, lost in his own thoughts. After they pulled it into an abandoned lot beside a warehouse. "This is it…" Gibbs noted, opening his door and preparing his gun. "You sure you're still up for this?" He asked, but found that Tony was already out of the car and walking towards two cars that held Tim, Ziva, and a few lower-ranking agents and cops, ready to get a team going. He merely sighed and got out, ready to do the same. He ordered Tony, Ziva and half the other officers to circle the perimeter of the area, and he would take Tim and the others inside. They wasted no time in going their separate ways.

After a few minutes and attempting to catch up with Tony as the man seemed to make it his business to put a fair bit of distance between him and the crew, Ziva ran to catch up with him, then stepped in front of him to stop him. "Tony, slow down. We're here to help you, not just weigh you down."

Tony clenched his jaw, then shook his head and took a step around her. However, she followed him. "Tony, getting irritated is not going to help this. I understand this is your son. I do not blame you for reacting this way, but we're here to help." She insisted.

Tony stared at her. "Getting irr…" He looked away, scoffed again, and then pinched the bridge of his nose. "Irritated. Right, because this is only irritating to me. No, Ziva. You don't 'understand'."

"Then help me to." Ziva insisted.

Tony shook his head a third time. "Still wasting time."

"Tony, please…" Ziva insisted.

Tony glared at her. "Fine. You wanna know why I'm irritated, Ziva? Half of this is my fault, that's why. Yeah, we get agents captured like this more times than we can admit, you should know that. But Sam…. A kid's life is on the line because I was dumb enough to bring him to work when I had no other choice. I could've called in, I could've called someone, but no. I was stupid and angry and brought him with me, and I'm sure that's why this bastard knows the kid existed. They probably followed me home when I had him, or followed Jess home… he knew we all had a soft spot- probably knew he was my son, too, and now he has him. If Sam's dead, that's on me, so yeah, I am way beyond irritated right now, Ziva. Don't you dare say that you understand." He finished. After a couple of seconds, he flinched. "Look, I…"

Ziva shook her head. "Don't. I'm sure you needed that."

Tony grunted in agreement and then looked away.

Ziva frowned at him, but her frown deepened and confusion was added to the mix when she saw Tony suddenly went rigid, something flashed in his eyes, and his jaw dropped ever-so-slightly. She realized she knew that look- it was the one she had seen reflected in one of Gibbs' mirrors moments after she had killed Ari. "… Tony?" She looked in the direction he was staring, and her breath caught in her throat when she realized just what had caused the reaction. A boy was in the ditch nearby that had flooded with water- a boy who bore a striking resemblance to one of the people they were looking for.

"SAM!" Tony screamed, finally snapping out of his shock. The vowel nearly went silent from being shouted so harshly. The agent tore down the hill and into the water. "Ziva, get medics down here, NOW!" He barked, only pointing at her as he continued on his way.

Ziva started for a moment, then snapped out of her own daze and took her cell phone out before hurrying back towards the road.

Tony made it to the base of the hill and slid the last couple of feet left between himself and the boy., A He picked Sam up, turning him in his arms as he did so. "Sammy?" Sam, unfortunately, looked pale. Not deathly pale, Tony noted, but damn close. "Sammy!" He shook the boy, but he made no response. After a couple of more tries, there was still nothing. "Sam!" He repeated, trying once again. He let out a rough breath, trying to hold back the sobs that he knew were coming if the situation was going to end badly. The re-realization that Sam had just been face down in at least three inches of water came back and he started CPR. He did a couple of rotations, once again to no avail. He didn't stop the half-sob that escaped his throat that time. "Come on, Sammy! Come on!" He tried again, and when a moment later, a couple of water droplets hit him in the cheek and he pulled back to see a coughing Sam, his heart ust about stopped as he let out a happier sob this time. He pulled the boy against him so he was chest to back with the boy and held him loosely, waiting for the boy to continue to cough up water. "You're okay! You're okay, buddy! You're safe!"

A couple of minutes later, Sam seemed to be done and realized that someone was holding him, not having noticed just who it was yet. He shrieked in protest and fought against Tony's arms.

Tony turned him around. "It's me, Sammy! It's Uncle Tony! I'm not gonna hurt you! You're safe!"

Sam stopped screaming as realization hit, and the shrieking faded into crying of his own, fueled by seeing his uncle had clearly been doing the same.

Tony's heart clenched and he tightened his grip on his son and the boy curled into him. Tony reached up to cradle the boy's head before kissing the side of it. "You're okay. He's not gonna hurt you. I promise." He eased one arm away from Sam in order to get his phone. He jammed Gibbs' number into it. He heard the other end pick up. "We got him. Sam's alive. Sam's here. He was half-drowned so he's gonna need some medical attention but he's okay." He choked out.

There was a relieved sigh from the other end. _"… What about you, Tony? You okay?" _

"I'll be better once we get Jess back too, but yeah, this helped." Tony panted into the phone. "I have to…"

"_Go ahead."_

Tony hung up and put his arm back around Sam, standing up as he did so in order to carry his son back towards where Ziva was. Once he got there, Ziva hurried over. "Is he okay?" She reached over and pushed the wet hair out of Sam's face, then moved closer when Sam pulled away. "Hey…" She leaned over. Sam saw it was her, relaxed, but still pressed more into Tony as he let her fix him up as much as time allowed.

Tony turned towards the end of the road where it curved and spotted two ambulences and a couple of cars- one unmarked and one a squad car, coming. He moved his arms so he could talk to him without him getting too upset. "Sammy, Sammy Boy, look at me…"

Sam reluctantly did.

Tony sighed. "Listen, buddy. I have to leave-"

"No!" Sam protested, grabbing for him.

Tony flinched, but continued. "I have to, Sammy. That bad guy still has your mom, and we have to make sure we get her just like we got you, okay?" He insisted. "I like these guys coming. They're good guys. They'll look after you and I'll be back as soon as I can be."

"What about Mommy?" Sam asked.

Tony flinched yet again. "I don't know, buddy, but we- Me, Uncle Gibbs, Uncle Tim, Aunt Ziva- we're all gonna try to get her back to you. I promise."

Sam didn't look convinced.

Tony put him down, sighing when Sam fought him. "It's okay, buddy. It's gonna be okay…" He repeated. He glanced back up at the cars, then spotted Duck making his way over. The man hadn't seen Sam yet . "Ducky!"

Ducky looked up, then stopped in his tracks when he spotted Sam. "Samuel!"

Sam looked at him. "Uncle Ducky!"

Ducky picked up his pace, then reached them. "My dear boy!" He said, then looked at Tony. "He looks alright- is he alright?"

Tony shook his head. "He… he seems it, but the kid was half-drowned when I found him. As you can see if I fixed that bit, but… who knows what the guy did to him."

Ducky nodded, a somber expression growing on his face.

Tony shook his head. "The others are still in there. We don't have Jess yet…"

Ducky nodded again, then motioned at Sam. "I'll look after him when these gentleman are seeing to him. You get back in there- if you want to, of course."

Tony sighed in relief. "Thank you," He looked at Sam. "You hear that?"

Sam frowned. "I don't want you to go…"

Tony put him down and stroked his hair. "I know, but I have to go help save your mom if she's still here. You like Ducky, don't you?"

Sam hesitated, then nodded.

Tony leaned over. "Then you'll be okay. I already told you I'll be back as soon as I can. I mean it." He assured him. "I promise…"

Sam looked like he might have burst into tears, and Tony had to look away again.

Ducky cut in and offered the boy his hand. "Samuel, come on. These nice men need to take a look at you. Uncle David and I will be right here to make sure nothing bad happens…" He assured him as he led the boy back towards one of the ambulances and the EMTs who had started to walk over to them.

Tony watched them go, then took out his phone and called Gibbs again. "Comin' back in, Boss." He said before the other man could so much as protest. He collected himself, then headed back for the building.

* * *

Jessica groaned weakly as she came to. The bastard who had her had one of his goons inject her with something… a while ago- she couldn't tell. Everything hurt. She became distantly aware of the fact that she was sitting on what felt like a wooden chair. She squeezed her eyes tighter shut before opening them and hoping her vision cleared quickly. It did and she looked around until she was aware of a steady beeping that was going on. She looked down and her heart skipped a beat as she realized where the beeping was coming from. She found a bomb strapped to her chest. It's timer was facing up at her, almost mocking. The timer itself was slowly ticking down from forty-five minutes. "… Oh…"


End file.
